X-Message-Number: 9130 Date: Sat, 07 Feb 1998 02:58:05 -0800 From: Jan Coetzee <> Subject: Brain death References: <> Brain-Dead Man Reportedly Revived After Stroke [Medical Tribune: Internist & Cardiologist Edition 38(12): 1997. © 1997 Jobson Healthcare Group] BOSTON--A man who Oregon University doctors believed was clinically brain dead from a stroke is now back operating a tractor and running a farm. Researchers used the experimental treatment urokinase to dissolve a blood clot in the man's basilar artery. Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), Wayne Clark, M.D., said that even after administering the therapy he still thought he would be discussing organ donation with the family of the 41-year-old Hispanic farmer. "Instead I was talking to them about rehabilitation," said Dr. Clark, director of the Oregon Stroke Center in Portland. Within 24 hours of the urokinase treatment, the man was conscious, alert and moving all his limbs, Dr. Clark said. After three months, he was walking and living at home. "He has trouble seeing to one side and he walks with a cane, but he's a rancher and he's back doing what ranchers do," eight months after urokinase was administered to dissolve the clot and restore healthy blood flow to the brain, Dr. Clark said. Steven Ringel, M.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver, and president of the AAN, applauded the success but said many neurologists would dispute Dr. Clark's description that the patient was actually "brain dead." Dr. Ringel said brain death implies the man could not breathe on his own, but in this case, the patient was able to do that when treatment was tried. "He failed every test of brain death we gave him, but we didn't administer all the tests," Dr. Clark said. He added that there was no eye movement after stimulation with intense light, and no response to cold water or pain. --E.S. Brain-Dead Man Reportedly Revived After Stroke [Medical Tribune: Internist & Cardiologist Edition 38(12): 1997. © 1997 Jobson Healthcare Group] BOSTON--A man who Oregon University doctors believed was clinically brain dead from a stroke is now back operating a tractor and running a farm. Researchers used the experimental treatment urokinase to dissolve a blood clot in the man's basilar artery. Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), Wayne Clark, M.D., said that even after administering the therapy he still thought he would be discussing organ donation with the family of the 41-year-old Hispanic farmer. "Instead I was talking to them about rehabilitation," said Dr. Clark, director of the Oregon Stroke Center in Portland. Within 24 hours of the urokinase treatment, the man was conscious, alert and moving all his limbs, Dr. Clark said. After three months, he was walking and living at home. "He has trouble seeing to one side and he walks with a cane, but he's a rancher and he's back doing what ranchers do," eight months after urokinase was administered to dissolve the clot and restore healthy blood flow to the brain, Dr. Clark said. Steven Ringel, M.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver, and president of the AAN, applauded the success but said many neurologists would dispute Dr. Clark's description that the patient was actually "brain dead." Dr. Ringel said brain death implies the man could not breathe on his own, but in this case, the patient was able to do that when treatment was tried. "He failed every test of brain death we gave him, but we didn't administer all the tests," Dr. Clark said. He added that there was no eye movement after stimulation with intense light, and no response to cold water or pain. --E.S. Brain-Dead Man Reportedly Revived After Stroke [Medical Tribune: Internist & Cardiologist Edition 38(12): 1997. © 1997 Jobson Healthcare Group] BOSTON--A man who Oregon University doctors believed was clinically brain dead from a stroke is now back operating a tractor and running a farm. Researchers used the experimental treatment urokinase to dissolve a blood clot in the man's basilar artery. Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), Wayne Clark, M.D., said that even after administering the therapy he still thought he would be discussing organ donation with the family of the 41-year-old Hispanic farmer. "Instead I was talking to them about rehabilitation," said Dr. Clark, director of the Oregon Stroke Center in Portland. Within 24 hours of the urokinase treatment, the man was conscious, alert and moving all his limbs, Dr. Clark said. After three months, he was walking and living at home. "He has trouble seeing to one side and he walks with a cane, but he's a rancher and he's back doing what ranchers do," eight months after urokinase was administered to dissolve the clot and restore healthy blood flow to the brain, Dr. Clark said. Steven Ringel, M.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver, and president of the AAN, applauded the success but said many neurologists would dispute Dr. Clark's description that the patient was actually "brain dead." Dr. Ringel said brain death implies the man could not breathe on his own, but in this case, the patient was able to do that when treatment was tried. "He failed every test of brain death we gave him, but we didn't administer all the tests," Dr. Clark said. He added that there was no eye movement after stimulation with intense light, and no response to cold water or pain. --E.S. Brain-Dead Man Reportedly Revived After Stroke [Medical Tribune: Internist & Cardiologist Edition 38(12): 1997. © 1997 Jobson Healthcare Group] BOSTON--A man who Oregon University doctors believed was clinically brain dead from a stroke is now back operating a tractor and running a farm. Researchers used the experimental treatment urokinase to dissolve a blood clot in the man's basilar artery. Reporting at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), Wayne Clark, M.D., said that even after administering the therapy he still thought he would be discussing organ donation with the family of the 41-year-old Hispanic farmer. "Instead I was talking to them about rehabilitation," said Dr. Clark, director of the Oregon Stroke Center in Portland. Within 24 hours of the urokinase treatment, the man was conscious, alert and moving all his limbs, Dr. Clark said. After three months, he was walking and living at home. "He has trouble seeing to one side and he walks with a cane, but he's a rancher and he's back doing what ranchers do," eight months after urokinase was administered to dissolve the clot and restore healthy blood flow to the brain, Dr. Clark said. Steven Ringel, M.D., a professor of neurology at the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver, and president of the AAN, applauded the success but said many neurologists would dispute Dr. Clark's description that the patient was actually "brain dead." Dr. Ringel said brain death implies the man could not breathe on his own, but in this case, the patient was able to do that when treatment was tried. "He failed every test of brain death we gave him, but we didn't administer all the tests," Dr. Clark said. He added that there was no eye movement after stimulation with intense light, and no response to cold water or pain. --E.S. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=9130