Introduction:

encephalic death is a historical reality, which has allowed advances in the field of transplantation; experiences regarding this topic are presented in Pinar del Río.

Objective:

to characterize patients with encephalic death and its complications during donor maintenance in the intensive care unit of the General Teaching Hospital of Pinar del Rio from 2014 to 2016.

Methods:

a prospective, analytical study was conducted in the intensive care unit of the chosen hospital; the target group was comprised of 150 patients with neurological injury and Glasgow ≤ 8 points, and the sample included 59 patients with brain death.

Results:

the coordinator was notified within the first three hours (69,50 %), the diagnosis was completed on the first day (57,63 %), mainly in the intensive care units (69,49 %), the Glasgow scale (6 ± 2,2), full outline of unresponsiveness (4 ± 3,2), and Apache II (26 ± 4,3) determined the mortality, hemorrhagic stroke was the fundamental cause (64,41 %), proven by tomography the deviation of structures of the middle line ≥ 5 mm (84,75 %), the compression of the ventricular system (83,05 %), the erasure of cisterns of the base (74,58 %), and the cerebral hernias (59,32 %) presented (p<0,001), in the diagnosis performed by Doppler the isolated systolic spike predominated (72,88 %), with few familial denies (16,9 %), and increasing the donation to 23,73 pmh.

Conclusions:

knowledge and adequate management of encephalic death and its complications increase the life expectancy of the recipient from less organic deterioration.

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