NEAR-DEATH-EXPERIENCES IN OUT-OF-HOSPITAL CARDIAC-ARREST SURVIVORS - MEANINGFUL PHENOMENA OR JUST FANTASY OF DEATH

Frequent criticism concerning the investigation of near-death-experien ces (NDEs) has been the lack of uniform nomenclature and the failure t o control the studied population with an elimination of interfering fa ctors such as administration of sedatives and nonspecific stress respo nses. Greyson's NDE Scale is a 16-item questionnaire developed to stan dardize further research into mechanisms and effects of NDEs. Using th is scale, we interviewed good out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors , with documented time-intervals between call for help and restoration of spontaneous circulation, yet without obvious brain damage or known , psychiatric history. The incidence of such experiences appeared to b e extremely low among survivors of genuine cardiac arrest events. Alte ration of information processing under the influence of hypoxia and hy percarbia only occurs after several minutes of brain ischaemia. Intern ational multicentric data collection within the framework for standard ized reporting of cardiac arrest events will be the only satisfying me thod to address this fascinating and intriguing issue.