The brain-based account of death has been the subject of continuous debate since its introduction in 1968 in the Harvard Report. Studies directed specifically at the cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain death, on the other hand, remain scarce. Brain Stem Death chronicles the first comprehensive effort to fill this knowledge void. The 30-year journey of the author and his colleagues began with a serendipitous discovery of a novel biomarker that is related to the functional integrity of the brain stem and inevitably disappears in patients confirmed with brain death. That this life-and-death signal undergoes waxing and waning in animal models suggests that the progression towards brain stem death successively exhibits pro-life and pro-death phases. Systematic search from a brain stem neural substrate where this biomarker originates revealed that it is the outcome of interplays between pro-life and pro-death cellular and molecular programs and the transition from oxidative stress to nitrosative stress that determine the final fate of the individual. Given that brain stem death is irreversible, this book provides mechanistical hints for the development of strategies to prevent critically ill patients from shifting from the pro-life phase to the pro-death phase. This book is particularly recommended to specialists in critical care medicine, neurology, transplantation, and translational medicine.