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Failure to elicit near-death experiences in induced cardiac arrest.

Bruce Greyson, Janice Holden, J. Paul Mounsey

Journal of Near-Death Studies 2006 DOI: 10.17514/jnds-2006-25-2-p85-98. (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Peer reviewed
Sample size 52
Population Patients undergoing surgical implantation of automatic implantable cardioverters/defibrillators (ICDs) with induced cardiac arrest
Topics Near-death experience
Citations 13
Key findings No patient reported a near-death experience or out-of-body perception during 52 induced cardiac arrests.

Abstract

Persons reporting near-death experiences (NDEs) sometimes describe a sense of having been out of their bodies and observing their surroundings from a visual perspective outside of and above their bodies. We attempted to study such phenomena during the surgical implantation of automatic implantable cardioverters/defibrillators (ICDs), electrical devices that monitor the patient's heartbeat and automatically detect cardiac arrest and administer an electrical shock to return the heart to normal rhythm. When ICDs are implanted in a patient's chest, cardiac arrest is induced under closely monitored conditions, in order to test the ICD's sensitivity and effectiveness. This study was designed to investigate the accuracy of out-of-body perceptions during NDEs that occur during these induced cardiac arrests. A computer in the operating room displayed quasi-randomly-selected unusual visual targets so that they were visible only from above eye level, from a visual perspective looking down upon the body of the unconscious patient. In a series of 52 induced cardiac arrests, no patient reported having had a near-death experience, and none reported a sense of having left the physical body or observing from an out of-body visual perspective. This failure to find a single NDE in 52 induced cardiac arrests may have been due to preoperative reassurances that patients

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on near-death experience, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands Cardiac patients successfully resuscitated after cardiac arrest in ten Dutch hospitals 2001 Prospective cohort study n = 344
Incidence and correlates of near-death experiences in a cardiac care unit Cardiac inpatients at a tertiary care center 2003 Observational cohort n = 1,595
Features of "near-death experience" in relation to whether or not patients were near death Patients who believed they were near death during an illness or after an injury and... 1990 Observational cohort n = 58
The phenomenology of near-death experiences Subjects who reported near-death experiences 1980 Retrospective study n = 78
Near-Death Experiences and the Temporal Lobe Individuals who reported having had a near-death experience during a life-threatening... 2004 Observational cohort

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