Brain banks. Do our patients know about them?

ଝ Banco de cerebros. ¿Conocidos por nuestros pacientes? Over the last few years, advances in biomedical research have led to the creation of a brain bank network in Spain. These banks are distributed throughout the country in Murcia, Andalusia, Madrid, Catalonia, Navarre, the Basque Country, and Galicia. If these banks are to receive donations, our patients must be informed about the purpose and relevance of brain banks. 1,2 But what do they think about them? Do they consider them useful? Have they even heard of them? The search for answers to these questions led us to frame our study's objectives as follows: (a) evaluating to what extent our patients are aware of brain banks and understand their purpose, and (b) ascertaining patients' attitudes (acceptance or rejection) regarding such banks. Our cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in an urban health centre in the province of Murcia. Four residents in family and community medicine and their 4 advisors participated as researchers in our study, which was conducted between October and December 2011. Patients were randomly selected from those who came to the clinic during the study period. A total of 100 patients were included in the study sample. The variables analysed along with patients' responses were as follows: — Do you know what a brain bank is? Of the total, 32% could provide an answer and 68% could not. — Patients who were able to answer were then asked the following questions: (a) How did you hear about them? Responses: Internet (9%), mass media (60%), through ଝ Please cite this article as: Lozano Espinosa M, et al. Banco de cerebros. ¿Conocidos por nuestros pacientes? Neurología. 2013;28:379—80. friends (12%), through health professionals (16%), and by other means (3%). (b) What is the purpose of these brain banks? Responses: To store brains for transplants (0%), to examine them in order to develop better treatments for neurological diseases (97%), to create collections (0%), and other uses (3%). (NB: those patients who did not know about brain banks were briefly informed about them before continuing with the questionnaire). — Do you think brain banks are useful? Ye s (92%), no (2%), and no opinion (6%). — Do any of your family members suffer from dementia? Ye s (32%), no (68%). — Would you donate your brain if you were asked to do so? Ye s (59%), no (17%), undecided (24%). — What is the main reason …