Near-death experience during cardiac arrest and consciousness beyond the brain: a narrative review.
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England) January 1, 2025 Bruno Angeli-Faez, Bruce Greyson, Pim van Lommel 3 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) during cardiac arrest likely occur when the patient is unresponsive and the brain is severely compromised, not in early arrest or after resuscitation. There is no evidence that cortical electrical activity recorded during dying or CPR is linked to NDEs; such recordings may be artifacts. Cardiac arrest halts blood flow to the brain, causing loss of cortical electrical activity within 10–30 seconds. During CPR, brain activity may remain absent or severely disturbed. Because NDEs appear at the moment the brain is severely compromised, this may support the idea that consciousness can persist beyond the brain.