TY - JOUR T1 - Dead? Or just cold: profoundly hypothermic patient with no signs of life JF - Emergency Medicine Journal JO - Emerg Med J SP - 478 LP - 479 DO - 10.1136/emj.19.5.478 VL - 19 IS - 5 AU - C S Ko AU - J Alex AU - S Jeffries AU - J M Parmar Y1 - 2002/09/01 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/19/5/478.abstract N2 - A 37 year old man was found in his garden cold with no signs of life. Pupils were fixed and dilated. Electrocardiography showed asystole initially. The paramedic crew started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and transferred him to the accident and emergency department. His temperature was 17.0°C. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was continued for three hours before rewarming using partial cardiopulmonary bypass. He eventually regained spontaneous cardiac output and made a full neurological recovery. Hypothermic patients with no evidence of life cannot be assumed to be dead as there is a chance of full recovery when fully warmed. ER -