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So, I still don't know if you are irreversibly dead if your brain stops all activity. I.e. is the state of your brain preserved just by the connections of the neurons? Or is the "RAM" also critical?
There are cases of people without short term memory. That to me qualifies as RAM, guess its not critical to survival.
ECMO is an amazing technology that's often used in futile situations. I don't know who the ideal candidate is for it, but a young, fit, hypothermic cardiac arrest victim is pretty high up on the list
I don't know about ideal, but it saved my 6 day old son so yeah, "amazing" is totally warranted. Years later I sometimes take a look at some of the pictures we took (cameras would be forbidden in ICU soon after) and stare in awe.
So, I still don't know if you are irreversibly dead if your brain stops all activity. I.e. is the state of your brain preserved just by the connections of the neurons? Or is the "RAM" also critical?
>Or is the "RAM" also critical? There are cases of people without short term memory. That to me qualifies as RAM, guess its not critical to survival.
The connections between the neurons is the architecture. The neurons themselves have state. If that state is wiped across the brain, I'd be surprised if the body connected to it could even still keep itself alive.
To the actual question though, neurons die/fail very quickly at their normal metabolic rate without an oxygen supply. You are certainly dead once that happens.
These procedures are all about providing some oxygen and dropping the metabolic rate to keep the neurons alive longer than they would unassisted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
When your brain doesn't get oxygen it will die. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hypoxia
It's more then that in this case. She had not vital signs at all, heart not beating and providing oxygen included.
It’s amazing how this phenomenon has been adapted into medical technology. When my son was born he wasn’t breathing properly and his blood oxygen levels dropped to critical levels. He was rushed to hospital and the first thing they did was cool him to 34c to reduce the risk of brain damage. He made a full recovery. I dread to think what would have happened without the cooling.
It’s amazing how this phenomenon has been adapted into medical technology. When my son was born he wasn’t breathing properly and his blood oxygen levels dropped to critical levels. He was rushed to hospital and the first thing they did was cool him to 34c to reduce the risk of brain damage. He made a full recovery. I dread to think what would have happened without the cooling.
Why not cool the patient before rushing them to hospital, if the technique is so widely applicable? It could easily be made a standard feature of emergency medical services.
So, I still don't know if you are irreversibly dead if your brain stops all activity. I.e. is the state of your brain preserved just by the connections of the neurons? Or is the "RAM" also critical?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not cool the patient before rushing them to hospital, if the technique is so widely applicable? It could easily be made a standard feature of emergency medical services.
Maybe the training of the emergency crew is not sufficient?
It’s amazing how this phenomenon has been adapted into medical technology. When my son was born he wasn’t breathing properly and his blood oxygen levels dropped to critical levels. He was rushed to hospital and the first thing they did was cool him to 34c to reduce the risk of brain damage. He made a full recovery. I dread to think what would have happened without the cooling.
Why not cool the patient before rushing them to hospital, if the technique is so widely applicable? It could easily be made a standard feature of emergency medical services.