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Clinical death
is a reversible stage of dying, a transitional state from life to
death.
Signs of death clinically
1. Absence of consciousness.
2. Absence of pulse on main arteries.
3. Absence of breathing, blood pressure is not determined.
4. Pupil dilation (develops in 1 min after stopping circulation, no reaction
to light).
5. Areflexia.
Clinical death lasts 3 to 6 minutes. The duration of the period depends of
how long the cerebral cortex is able to keep vitality after stopping its blood
circulation and breathing. In the period the restoring of vital functions is possible
due to intensive care.
After clinical death follows a period of irreversible changes, typical for real,
biological death, at which it is impossible reach the full manages the function
of organs.
Signs of biological death
1. Cornea eyes turbidity and drying (floating icicles symptoms), occurs
within 15–20 minutes.
2. Eye apples softening – Beloglazov symptom: in the side compression of
eye the pupil changes its form like to feline eyes, fixed in 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Reducing body temperature to ambient temperature.
4. Cadaveric lividity in the lower places (determined 2 to 4 hours after
stopping of the heart).
5. Rigor Mortis (determined after 2–4 hours, reaches the maximum at the
end of 1 day and disappears spontaneously on 3–4 day).
6. Autolysis (tissue decomposition).
At first irreversible changes appear in the cortex – “brain death”. The viability
of the heart retains for 1.5–2 hours, kidneys, liver – up to 3–4 hours, muscle
tissue, skin – up to 5–6 hours. Bone tissue is the most inert self-help tissue
of organism, it can retain function up to a day. Considering this factors, it’s
possible to spend the transplantation of separate organs.
It is principle to recognize and early to start of heart-pulmonary resuscitation.
Resuscitation
(from the Latin re + аnimatio – the revival of the body) is
directed to restoring vitally-important function, first of all blood circulation and
breathing, providing a sufficient amount of oxygen.