the aim of the study was to identify the predictors of brain death bd upon admission to the intensive care unit icu of comatose patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage ich patients admitted in our icu from 2002 to 2010 for spontaneous ich and placed under mechanical ventilation were retrospectively analyzed of the 72 patients 49 evolved to bd 39 died after withdrawal of life support and 12 were discharged alive the most discriminating characteristics to predict bd were included in two models model 1 contained 3 abolished brainstem responses adjusted odds ratios or 8 4 2 4 29 1 and the swirl sign on the baseline ct scan adjusted or 5 0 1 6 15 9 and model 2 addressed the abolition of corneal reflexes unilateral bilateral adjusted or 4 2 0 9 20 1 8 8 2 4 32 3 and the swirl sign on the baseline ct scan adjusted or 6 2 1 9 20 0 two scores predicting bd were created sensitivity 0 89 and 0 88 specificity 0 68 and 0 65 risk of evolution toward bd was classified as low corneal reflexes present and no swirl sign high 1 corneal reflexes abolished and swirl sign and intermediate simple signs at icu admission can predict bd in comatose patients with ich and could increase the potential for organ donation.