The Lazarus phenomenon
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Radha Sundaram; Vedamurthy Adhiyaman; Sonja Adhiyaman
- Source
- Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 100:552-557
- Subject
- medicine.medical_specialty
Resuscitation
Time Factors
medicine.medical_treatment
Reviews
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Phenomenon
medicine
Humans
In patient
030212 general & internal medicine
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Asystole
Intensive care medicine
Dynamic hyperinflation
business.industry
030208 emergency & critical care medicine
Recovery of Function
General Medicine
medicine.disease
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Heart Arrest
Blood circulation
Anesthesia
Blood Circulation
business
Venous return curve
- Language
- ISSN
- 0141-0768
Even though Lazarus phenomenon is rare, it is probably under reported. There is no doubt that Lazarus phenomenon is a reality but so far the scientific explanations have been inadequate. So far the only plausible explanation at least in some cases is auto-PEEP and impaired venous return. In patients with PEA or asystole, dynamic hyperinflation should considered as a cause and a short period of apnoea (30–60 seconds) should be tried before stopping resuscitation. Since ROSC occurred within 10 minutes in most cases, patients should be passively monitored for at least 10 minutes after the cessation of CPR before confirming death.