Experiments in Resuscitation

Abstract

A REPORT by the Soviet Union Year Book Press Service relates that ten years ago Dr. Sergei Briuk-honenko carried out the following experiment. He removed the head of a dog and attached to it an apparatus which he called the autojector for artificial circulation of the blood, with the result that the severed head was kept alive for six months, reacting to all stimuli. Some years later, Dr. Briukhonenko succeeded in resuscitating a whole animal. A dog had its thorax opened and the action of the heart stopped. Death set in, but the animal was revived by the autojector. In 1936 the Institute of Experimental Physiology and Therapy was created to assist Dr. Briukhonenko in his researches. The result has been that not only has resuscitation been effected so long as half an hour after death, but also life has been maintained so that dogs which were put to death in various ways in August and September 1936 and then resuscitated are still alive and in excellent condition.