Cardiopulmonary-Cerebral Resuscitation

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Abstract
The hypothesis that the brain can be protected from irreversible anoxic or ischemic damage by the use of pharmacologic agents given shortly after the insult is an old one. This hypothesis is ambitiously tested in the study by Abramson et al. reported in this issue of the Journal.1 In this study high-dose thiopental was administered to comatose patients after cardiopulmonary resuscitation, in the hope that the drug would lower metabolic demands and thus protect the brain, but the results were negative. Until newer investigations prove the contrary, the use of barbiturates cannot be justified to avert irreversible anoxic or . . .