The human brain, the intricate organ that it is, to this day keeps on baffling the scientific community across the world. Whilst learning of its many mysteries, scientists have just discovered that the human brain keeps on functioning for as long as 10 minutes after a persons death.
Doctors in an ICU of a canadian hospital, took four critically ill patients off life support and found themselves in great disarray. The brain activity in three out of the four patients halted initially shortly followed by their heart beat and blood pressure.
In medical terms, the person(s) were declared clinically dead, however the fourth patient in this ordeal behaved in a way that astonished the doctors present. The patient displayed relentless brain activity for up to 10 minutes after the last heartbeat.
According to a study published earlier this week in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, researchers told that the fourth patients brain kept on firing off bursts of delta waves even after the patient was clinically dead.
Various other foreign media reports say that the researchers speculated that they could not really explain what occurred with the fourth patient deeming it possibly a human or equipment error that falsely simulated brain activity at the time of the experiment, however there was no sign that a person or machine fallacy was to be blamed.
The study was conducted with an aim to learn how a human body responds when taken off life support, which would further help answer questions regarding organ donation.
"It is difficult to posit a physiological basis for this EEG [electroencephalographic] activity, given that it occurs after a prolonged loss of circulation. Further study of the [EEG] during the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies will add clarity to medical, ethical and legal concerns for donation after circulatory determined death ," Loretta Norton and her colleagues of the University of Western Ontario wrote.
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