Actually, there are a few cases in the literature over the last several decades of supposed brain death reversal – mainly in infants and fetuses (where you may still have an active neurogenesis niche) – none ever had positive long term outcome, but the papers do exists in PubMed if you look for them – and they are hotly contested amongst thought leaders – like this one – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19818943 – And do keep in mind, the brain death diagnosis does NOT constitute zero cerebral activity as is commonly mentioned in the press – it is “no cerebral activity greater than 2 micro-volts” – most thought leaders in the space acknowledge residual “nests” of neuronal activity and residual blood flow do indeed exist in the brain dead – just not enough to support an “integrated whole person” – Since 1968 and the Harvard Ad Hoc Committee on Brain Death, the definition of death has remained static, in spite of 1) the major thought leaders in the space acknowledging that brain death is a process, not an event, and 2) the continued development of new technologies, including those of regenerative medicine – and on top of that, even in the year 2014 we really have no widely accepted idea on how memories are truly stored in the brain, and how much of the brain can be destroyed while maintaining identity – Ira S Pastor, CEO, Bioquark Inc.
Actually, there are a few cases in the literature over the last several decades of supposed brain death reversal – mainly in infants and fetuses (where you may still have an active neurogenesis niche) – none ever had positive long term outcome, but the papers do exists in PubMed if you look for them – and they are hotly contested amongst thought leaders – like this one – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19818943 – And do keep in mind, the brain death diagnosis does NOT constitute zero cerebral activity as is commonly mentioned in the press – it is “no cerebral activity greater than 2 micro-volts” – most thought leaders in the space acknowledge residual “nests” of neuronal activity and residual blood flow do indeed exist in the brain dead – just not enough to support an “integrated whole person” – Since 1968 and the Harvard Ad Hoc Committee on Brain Death, the definition of death has remained static, in spite of 1) the major thought leaders in the space acknowledging that brain death is a process, not an event, and 2) the continued development of new technologies, including those of regenerative medicine – and on top of that, even in the year 2014 we really have no widely accepted idea on how memories are truly stored in the brain, and how much of the brain can be destroyed while maintaining identity – Ira S Pastor, CEO, Bioquark Inc.