A 41-year-old man seeking the meaning of life drank a tea and paste made from the San Pedro cactus during a shamanic ritual. Hallucinations began after 9.5 hours, presenting as a psychotic reaction with catatonia. He was admitted to a psychiatry department and given a second-generation antipsychotic. The clinical symptoms resolved about 60 hours after mescaline ingestion, attributed to the antipsychotic's antagonistic effect on serotoninergic 5-HT2A receptors.
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are profound subjective events reported by people who come close to death, often involving out-of-body perceptions, feelings of peace, moving through a tunnel, and encountering lights or figures, though features vary by culture. In cardiac arrest survivors, NDEs occur in roughly 10–20% of survivors, with out-of-body experiences in about 2%. Planned hypothermic circulatory arrest during aortic arch repair precisely times cardiac arrest and reperfusion, offering a controlled model to study NDEs systematically. This review synthesizes definitions, incidence, typologies, and cultural variations, noting limitations of prior studies such as anesthetic effects and recall bias. Emerging tools like virtual reality simulations may help patients articulate NDE memories and reduce trauma. The authors conclude that planned cardiac arrest settings could advance understanding of NDE mechanisms and support patient care.