Intermediate life
As intermediate life in the will Thanatology the phase between the Individualtod, usually defined as today brain death and biological death d. H. the death of the last cell in the body. Even after brain death, the body can still be biologically active if it is artificially ventilated and cardiovascular functions are artificially maintained. In the intermediate life phase, organs or tissue can also be removed as part of the organ donation .
Since dying is a process and individual death begins with the cessation of (only) the brain functions , there is still so-called supravital tissue in those who have just died , which continues to survive due to greater tolerance of the lack of oxygen (compared to nerve tissue), even if the blood circulation to the Has stalled. Depending on the ambient temperature and other factors ( fever or hypothermia at the time of death, radiation), this intermediate phase can last for different lengths of time, but it is certainly over with the appearance of extensive rot .
Cartilage and corneas of the eyes are particularly long-lived in this sense , since these tissues are only supplied with oxygen and nutrients indirectly via diffusion , i.e. not directly via the bloodstream. Corneas can be transplanted up to 72 hours post-mortem .
Tissues of intermediate life are also capable of so-called supravital reactions, such as B. a pupillary reaction through drugs (up to 15 hours post mortem ), the functionality of sperm (up to one day post mortem ) or contractions of the muscle tissue that can be triggered by mechanical or electric shock (up to 20 hours after the individual death).
Web links
- Thanatology University Hospital Essen, no year
- Klaus Schäfer: Understanding brain death. The process of dying in simple terms Regensburg, 2017
- Shahnaz Friedrich-Wedig, Martin P. Wedig: Life - an approach from death IZPP 2012, pp. 1–11
Individual evidence
- ↑ Definition of terms / Intermediäres Leben Website Miamed GmbH, accessed on April 13, 2018
- ^ Determination of brain death , website of the Federal Chancellery , accessed on April 13, 2018