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Treating the Dead

Posted by kdawson on from the pining-for-the-fjords dept.

FlyByPC writes "According to a NewsWeek article, oxygen deprivation doesn't kill patients as much as the resumption of oxygen does. This discovery could bring about new ways of resuscitating people whose hearts have stopped."

2 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Makes a little bit of sense. . . by MagusSlurpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember reading somewhere in the last few months (possibly here on /.) that the new preferred version of CPR was 10 compressions to one breath, as opposed to the traditional 3. More compressions = less oxygen. . .

    --
    My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.
  2. This makes sense in a lot of ways. by Cadallin · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Trying to chill the body of someone in Cardiac arrest, for example, makes perfect sense. People survive hypothermia, even with after they stop breathing and their heart stops beating, remarkably well. I've read about Russians having used this technique during open heart surgery. They lacked machinery like cardiac pumps, so they cooled the patients down and stopped the heart and breathing, while doing the surgery on a bed of ice. It apparently worked far, far better than our technophile medicine in the USA would lead us to believe.

    It even makes sense to me why sudden resumption of oxygen should be lethal. Oxygen is extremely toxic and aerobic organism, such as ourselves, had to evolve complex cellular machinery in order to utilize it for metabolic efficiency, while keeping the oxygen from damaging cellular structures, especially DNA. The sudden surge in oxygenated blood would probably overload this system. Apoptosis in this case may be a protective step by killing the cell before its DNA becomes damaged and possibly cancerous. Thus, flooding the heart with oxygen causes the whole heart to "take one for the team," and shut down completely.

    The discovery that the cells are still alive, and can be revived with special treatment is extremely encouraging for the development of better techniques.