Near-death experience during cardiac arrest and consciousness beyond the brain: a narrative review.
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England) – January 01, 2025
Source: PubMed
Summary
Remarkably, some individuals report vivid Near-death experiences during cardiac arrest when the brain's cortical electrical activity is absent. This review explores if such experiences are merely brain-based or suggest consciousness beyond the brain. Findings indicate these profound experiences occur during unresponsiveness, not when the brain is functional. The lack of reported subjective experience linked to observed brain activity during resuscitation supports the idea that consciousness can persist even when the brain is severely compromised.
Abstract
In this narrative review, we will critically assess whether the occurrence of near-death experience (NDE) associated with cardiac arrest (CA) may be explained by brain electrical activity or whether this empirical evidence supports an alternative theory, namely, that consciousness may persist and function beyond the brain. Empirical evidence suggests that NDEs associated with CA likely arise during the patient's unresponsiveness, rather than in the early CA phases or after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), when the brain may still be functional or later recover. There has been no evidence that cortical electrical activations recorded in dying patients and during CPR may be involved in NDEs, since no reports of subjective experience have been associated with such brain recordings. Alternatively, these findings may be interpreted as a result of muscular artifacts or circulatory disturbances in such contexts. CA leads to the interruption of oxygenated blood flow to the brain and loss of cortical electrical activity within 10-30 seconds. During CPR, brain electrical activity may remain absent or severely disturbed. Given that NDEs appear to occur at the very moment in CA when the brain is severely compromised, this can be assumed as evidence for the continuity of consciousness beyond the brain.