Ice Water Drowning Survival After 147-Minute Submersion and Hypothermic Arrest

addaon

They’re not dead until they’re warm and dead.

hannasm

Wim hof has a similar childhood story (maybe not quite as extreme)...

mchusma

Incredible. I wonder if they can make progress on survivability of regular drowning.

js2

I was rewatching The Abyss for the first time since 1989 and wondered just what is the process for reviving an asystole heart[^1]. [^1]: It was only relatively recently that I learned you can't shock an asystole heart. e.g. https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/questions/5874/can...

usernametaken29

I remember that cryogenesis was deemed viable in the 80ies but essentially surface area is your enemy. Anything larger than a cat can’t be resurrected. It’s pretty bizarre really, they froze mice and microwaved them back to life.

isoprophlex

"Survival" here being, of course, not a black-and-white thing: > Outcome and Follow-Up > On day 59, the boy was discharged to inpatient neurorehabilitation. At 6-month follow-up, he was giving short commands, standing without support, riding a tricycle, eating soft foods, and relearning simple tasks. Peripheral neuromuscular weakness continued to improve.

qnleigh

That is incredible. 2.5 hours underwater, 1.5 hours of CPR. They were instructed not to start rewarming him until he could be given more comprehensive treatment at a hospital. They list 'death' as a differential diagnosis... He didn't come out unscathed though. They describe his progress: > At 6-month follow-up, he was giving short commands, standing without support, riding a tricycle, eating soft foods, and relearning simple tasks. Peripheral neuromuscular weakness continued to improve. which is quite limited for an 8-year old, but remarkable considering the circumstances.

tehnub

Reminds me of the extended description of what it might be like to drown in an ice lake in the book Stella Maris — it wouldn't be quick.

the_arun

Well written article. Life is a miracle. We are trying to understand it & there is more to learn everyday. I remember a couple of years ago, a 50yr patient (someone I know) was saved from a severe heart attack using induced hypothermia and recovering them slowly.

looofooo0

I am sceptical about the 147 minutes, the child could have still clinging onto the ice and just drowned a minute before the parents reached the pond.

bedatadriven

There was some medical terminology that I didn't understand. The NotebookLLM podcast version is disturbingly good: https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/21c5eddb-ada4-4726-85...

theturtlemoves

I'd be curious to read about 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 year follow-up. Party pooper warning. I'm afraid I don't have rose tinted glasses, due to personal experience with a family member with TBI (accident at age 16, 3 weeks in a coma). The aftereffects are profoundly destabilizing to his environment. I sometimes have quite a dark view of people's need to be a rescuer and celebrate the "alive!", when they don't have to deal with the next 40-60 years of living ...