Cerebral reperfusion in brain death of a newborn. Case report.

A case of "sudden infant death" after 15 minutes of successful resuscitation of cardiovascular function is presented. While apnoic cranial nerve areflexia and electrocerebral silence persisted, angiography and transcranial Doppler sonography demonstrated nearly normal cerebral perfusion, which even increased day by day inspite of the persistence of other signs of brain death. The phenomenon "cerebral reperfusion" is concluded to be compatible with the diagnosis of brain death.