NEW ORLEANS-A child’s scalp knows first when the brain is gone.
In a Baylor study of 12 comatose patients over 18 months old, a scalp temperature of more than 4° C below a 35° C rectal reading meant the end of cerebral metabolic activity.
Continuous measurements of temperature differences from rectal and scalp sites showed that seven patients who met clinical criteria for brain death had a rectal-scalp difference equal to or greater than 4° C, with a mean value of 6.7° C, says Dr. Rodolfo Treviño. The five patients who survived had a mean rectal-scalp difference of only 3.4° C.
Rectal-abdominal and rectal-mastoid comparisons did not correlate with clinical brain death or rectal-scalp readings, the team told the American Academy of Pediatrics meeting here.
