The Heart Stopped, the Patient Was Brought Back to Life; Was What the Patient Saw During This Time Just an Empty Dream?

Time and again, there are reports of people who have had a heart attack (or cardiac arrest) and survived resuscitation being aware of the resuscitation measures. What is the truth about these types of near-death experiences? According to a US study that correlated EEG (Electro-Encephalography; i.e. measurement of brain waves) findings with the testimonies of cardiopulmonary resuscitation survivors, it is virtually impossible to ignore such a thing.

Oxygen Saturation during Reanimation;

A prospective multicenter study by Dr. Sam Parnia and his team at NYU Langone Health included a total of 567 patients who had a heart attack in the hospital. In this study, patients were given visual and auditory stimulation via headphones and a screen at the beginning of the resuscitation process. Brain waves were recorded simultaneously and cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) was determined (1). Of all patients enrolled in the study, 53 patients (9.3%) were alive at the time of discharge from the hospital, 44 of whom had no neurological sequelae. In 28 patients, researchers were able to conduct debriefing and interviews. Surprisingly, the SO2 levels during resuscitation were not significantly higher than in patients who were not debriefed and interviewed (54% [interviewed] vs. 47% [uninterviewed]).

The longer the reminiscence, the less normal EEG patterns are observed;

In approximately half of the EEG recordings, no cortical brain activity could be recorded, while epileptiform activity was detected in 5%. In addition, despite obvious cerebral ischemia (mean rSO2=43%), normal or near-normal EEG patterns with delta and theta activity were observed (22% and 12%, respectively). As the duration of resuscitation measures increased, the proportion of such normal EEG patterns decreased and the proportion with absent activity increased.

Patients’ description of events following cardiac arrest;

Of those who participated in this scientific study, 36% reported being able to remember what happened after cardiac arrest. 21% reported transcendental experiences, 7% acoustic perceptions, and 3.5% visual perceptions.

No patient could recall the images shown on the screen, which was one of the acoustic stimuli. Some participants reported waking from coma with unpleasant or frightening experiences in connection with resuscitation measures; others had more visceral experiences independent of the medical process, such as various dreamlike visions or awareness of having passed away. No patients were observed to groan or make defensive movements as signs of awakening.

It is possible to regain consciousness through reanimation;

Therefore, it seems entirely possible that this group of patients regain consciousness and have cognitive experiences during resuscitation, even if it is not apparent from the outside. Further studies could investigate whether such experiences during cardiac arrest also lead to such post-traumatic stress disorders.

1.Parnia et al.: AWAreness during REsuscitation – II: A Multi-Center Study of Consciousness and Awareness in Cardiac Arrest. Resuscitation (2023); DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2023.10990…