Focus on Heart Health

Consciousness During Cardiac Death: A Window to Improving Brain Resuscitation?

11.26.2008 - By ReachMDPlay

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Host: Maurice Pickard, MD

Guest: Sam Parnia, MD, PhD

We are beginning to understand what happens when a patient in cardiac arrest, with no brain activity, later reports detailed perceptions, suggesting a high level of consciousness. What can we learn from the study of this phenomenon to help us improve resuscitation of the brain during cardiac arrest? What can it tell us about the experience of dying, and at what point consciousness ceases? Dr. Sam Parnia, a fellow in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, and one of the world's leading experts on the scientific study of death, joins host Dr. Maurice Pickard to talk about his research project, AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) at the University of Southampton School of Medicine in the United Kingdom, where Dr. Parnia is an honorary senior research fellow.

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