Organ donation from intensive care units in England

perhaps fewer are ventilated in other hospitals.As computed tomographic scanners become available in more general hospitals, fewer hopeless cases of head injury (and cases of intracranial haemorrhage) are likely to be referred to neurosurgeons.That could mean more potential donors in other hos- pitals.International comparisons of brain stem death and organ donation should allow for the fact that the incidence of fatal head injuries is two to three times greater in the United States, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany than in Britain and that the number of intensive care beds per head is 10 times greater in the United States.We hope that the further planned audits of deaths in intensive care units in England may throw more light on the factors that influence the yield of organ donors.