Treating the Dead…
This isn’t the most cheerful subject to write about over the holiday season, but I read about this over at Kevin, M.D. and just had to find out more.
Here’s the scenario…
A person collapsed with a cardiac arrest over five minutes ago. Everything is intact but his heart has stopped beating and his brain has shut down to conserve oxygen. No medical intervention has occurred. In medical terms, he is ‘clinically dead.’
But is he?
It has long been believed that lack of circulating oxygen will cause the internal organs (especially the heart and brain) to suffer irreversible damage within four to five minutes. Hence the importance of bystander CPR and immediate medical intervention such as defibrillation.
But does irreversible damage really occur this quickly?
Having studied oxygen deprived heart cells under a microscope, Dr Lance Becker and his team at Penn Center for Resuscitation Science have discovered some startling facts. Heart cells starved of oxygen for one hour showed no signs of cell death. In fact, these heart cells, cut off from their blood supply, didn’t die until hours later.
So if the heart cells haven’t died from lack of oyxgen, then why aren’t medical professionals able to bring someone ‘back from the dead’?
Dr Becker and his team are now questioning the decades old emergency room procedure of giving the patient high flow oxygen.
“We give them oxygen.’ Becker says. “We jolt the heart with the paddles, we pump in epinephrine to force it to beat, so it’s taking up more oxygen.” Blood-starved heart muscle is suddenly flooded with oxygen, precisely the situation that leads to cell death. Instead, Becker says, we should aim to reduce oxygen uptake, slow metabolism and adjust the blood chemistry for gradual and safe reperfusion. (ref)
Is there a better way?
Rapid cooling and experimental cyrogenics may be the answer to bringing someone ‘back from the dead’. Dr Becker explains…
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