Introduction —
This topic includes links to society and government-sponsored guidelines from selected countries and regions around the world. We will update these links periodically; newer versions of some guidelines may be available on each society's website. Some societies may require users to log in to access their guidelines.
The recommendations in the following guidelines may vary from those that appear in UpToDate topic reviews. Readers who are looking for UpToDate topic reviews should use the UpToDate search box to find the relevant content. Links to related guidelines are provided separately. (See "Society guideline links: Management of potential deceased organ donors" and "Society guideline links: Increased intracranial pressure and moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury".)
International
●Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)/European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM): Practice guideline for radionuclide brain perfusion scintigraphy in suspected death by neurologic criteria (brain death), 3.0 (2025)
●World Federation of Intensive and Critical Care (WFICC), World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies (WFPICCS), World Federation of Neurology (WFN), World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), and World Federation of Critical Care Nurses (WFCCN): Determination of brain death/death by neurologic criteria – The World Brain Death Project (2020)
●American Thoracic Society (ATS)/International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT)/Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM)/Association of Organ and Procurement Organizations (AOPO)/United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS): Official statement on ethical and policy considerations in organ donation after circulatory determination of death (2013)
Canada
●Canadian Blood Services (CBS): Canadian guidelines for controlled pediatric donation after circulatory determination of death (2017)
United States
●American Academy of Neurology (AAN), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Child Neurology Society (CNS), and Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM): Pediatric and adult brain death/death by neurologic criteria consensus guideline (2023)
●American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA): Statement on controlled organ donation after circulatory death (2017, amended 2022)
●AAN, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM), and National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR): Practice guideline recommendations summary – Disorders of consciousness, update (2018, reaffirmed 2021)
●AAN: Position statement on brain death, the determination of brain death, and member guidance for brain death accommodation requests (2019)
●American Heart Association (AHA): A scientific statement on standards for studies of neurological prognostication in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest (2019)
●AAN: Evidence-based guideline on determining brain death in adults, update (2010, reaffirmed 2017)
●AAP: Policy statement on ethical controversies in organ donation after circulatory death (2013, reaffirmed 2017)
●American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT): Position statement on determining brain death in adults after drug overdose (2017)
●American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS): Guideline on minimum technical standards for EEG recording in suspected cerebral death (2016)
●Neurocritical Care Society (NCS): Recommendations for the critical care management of devastating brain injury – Prognostication, psychosocial, and ethical management (2015)
●American Thoracic Society (ATS)/International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT)/SCCM/Association of Organ and Procurement Organizations (AOPO)/United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS): Official statement on ethical and policy considerations in organ donation after circulatory determination of death (2013)
Europe
●Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI)/European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM): Practice guideline for radionuclide brain perfusion scintigraphy in suspected death by neurologic criteria (brain death), 3.0 (2025)
●European Academy of Neurology (EAN): Guideline on the diagnosis of coma and other disorders of consciousness (2020)
United Kingdom
●Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH): Diagnosis of death by neurological criteria (DNC) in infants, children and adolescents (2025)
●Royal College of Physicians (RCP): National clinical guidelines on prolonged disorders of consciousness following sudden onset brain injury, update (2020)
●British Transplantation Society (BTS): Guidelines for transplantation from deceased donors after circulatory death (2013)
