The long read: New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be less distinct than previously thought

New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be less distinct than previously thought

Patient One was 24 years old and pregnant with her third child when she was taken off life support. It was 2014. A couple of years earlier, she had been diagnosed with a disorder that caused an irregular heartbeat, and during her two previous pregnancies she had suffered seizures and faintings. Four weeks into her third pregnancy, she collapsed on the floor of her home. Her mother, who was with her, called 911. By the time an ambulance arrived, Patient One had been unconscious for more than 10 minutes. Paramedics found that her heart had stopped.

After being driven to a hospital where she couldn’t be treated, Patient One was taken to the emergency department at the University of Michigan. There, medical staff had to shock her chest three times with a defibrillator before they could restart her heart. She was placed on an external ventilator and pacemaker, and transferred to the neurointensive care unit, where doctors monitored her brain activity. She was unresponsive to external stimuli, and had a massive swelling in her brain. After she lay in a deep coma for three days, her family decided it was best to take her off life support. It was at that point – after her oxygen was turned off and nurses pulled the breathing tube from her throat – that Patient One became one of the most intriguing scientific subjects in recent history.

…

In the moments after Patient One was taken off oxygen, there was a surge of activity in her dying brain. Areas that had been nearly silent while she was on life support suddenly thrummed with high-frequency electrical signals called gamma waves. In particular, the parts of the brain that scientists consider a “hot zone” for consciousness became dramatically alive. In one section, the signals remained detectable for more than six minutes. In another, they were 11 to 12 times higher than they had been before Patient One’s ventilator was removed.

“As she died, Patient One’s brain was functioning in a kind of hyperdrive,” Borjigin told me. For about two minutes after her oxygen was cut off, there was an intense synchronisation of her brain waves, a state associated with many cognitive functions, including heightened attention and memory. The synchronisation dampened for about 18 seconds, then intensified again for more than four minutes. It faded for a minute, then came back for a third time.

…

  • Carrolade@lemmy.worldEnglish
    832·
    9 months ago

    Why, evolutionarily speaking, should we have such experiences at all?

    If your brain is able to find out it is in a situation where dying is highly likely, it would get the best chances of surviving the whatever-is-happening if it quickly expends all its last remaining resources reviewing its stored info and creative potential looking for any last-ditch solutions.

    An offshoot of fight-or-flight, basically, or the neurological equivalent of mom-lifts-car-off-baby.

    Even if brains fail to come up with any sort of solution 99% of the time, it’d still confer an advantage over just … doing nothing and giving up.

    If this idea is accurate, it’d be closely related to the sensation of time slowing down during extremely dangerous, demanding, physical situations.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      355·
      9 months ago

      I’ve been in 3 situations where I knew I was going to die if I didn’t find a solution in seconds. Not merely dodging a car wreck or being scared shitless, knowing death is here and now. Saved myself each time because my brain “shutdown”.

      All unnecessary thoughts, fears, etc. dropped instantly. Finding a solution was all the process my brain would entertain.

      Had 2 kids since. Hopefully evolution worked as well for them in this case.

        • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          7·
          9 months ago

          First time, I was drowning. Like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, sinking straight down with my hand in the air, 3 times. Never happened before or since.

          Second time, I was frying on an electric pole. Grabbed a guy wire, that shouldn’t have been electrified, support only, but it was. Rocked and screamed like a schizophrenic.

          Third time, the toughest guy I’ve ever known was quite intent on torturing me to death. Seems there was a misunderstanding about a neighbor getting busted for drugs.

          Got out by:

          Chilled. Remember my childhood lessons on floating. Go my lips above water, got a sip of air. Kept doing that till I could float. LOL, and my friend was a certified lifeguard and only 40’ away! Damn her.

          Couldn’t move from the waist up, locked on that wire. Realized I could still control my legs. Pushed off on the telephone phone till I broke loose. (Scared of heights, then and now, didn’t care.)Landed in a rotten bush, surrounded by chicken wire stakes, bumped my ass. I was shaking for 20-minutes. Finished the internet install.

          Kinda blotted the third one out. If I had panicked or acted scared, I have no doubt he would have… begun. I chilled and calmly explained, while this giant is sitting on my chest, that I had zero motive to narc. Kept it simple and factual, kept calm. Got let go.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
      7·
      9 months ago

      I’d like to know if this could be turned into some sort of last chance jump start your brain treatment to let at least a few survive

      • DrRatso@lemmy.ml
        2·
        9 months ago

        Not really. The problem is not mainly that higher level functions are not there. It is a problem, but the problem is a lack of basic functions, especially breathing. This is in a way a test we do for brain death - disconnecting the patient from the ventilator for 2 minutes to check for spontaneous breathing,

    • Vigilante@lemmy.todayEnglish
      21·
      9 months ago

      Can mom really lift car off baby tho ? Or is that just a saying ? I’m gonna go with the latter do feel free to correcte tho .

      Edit : Ty for all the answers

      • cynar@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        9 months ago

        We actually use very little of our muscles full strength. In fact most of thee initial strength gain of weight lifting isn’t actually an increase in muscle, but of control. Under enough adrenaline the limiters come off. 5-20x normal is completely possible.

        The catch is the damage. Our tendons and supporting muscles are not built for the forces. Dislocations and tendon damage are severe, if full power is used. It also damages the muscle itself. A lot of the overhead is to allow for sustained functioning. Burning it all at once works, but it can’t be sustained without destroying the muscles involved.

        Basically, the body self protects. When required, emergency power can be unlocked, for a price.

      • phdepressed@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        9 months ago

        Yes, mom likely to seriously injure herself though. Someone already posted a wiki on hysterical strength. Basically our muscles have limiters so we don’t injure ourselves(your muscles can tear your own tendons and break bones). In certain situations(such as your kids being crushed by a car) those limiters get bypassed.

      • Carrolade@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        9 months ago

        I was using it in the meme-ey sense, to stand in more generally as an example for adrenaline-fueled feats of strength. I don’t know if that specific idea has a sound, well-documented reality or is just a meme though. Would not be difficult to look up where the meme came from, I’m sure.