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JOURNAL OF NEAR-DEATH STUDIES
discounted because of skepticism as to whether the patients really suffered cardiac arrests or were otherwise near death. This study was designed to remove such doubts because the cardiac arrest was immediately observed and recorded. Reports of accurate perceptions by unconscious patients while allegedly out of their bodies have often been ignored or discounted because the reported perceptions were of expected or easily guessed objects, and/or there was no truly independent corroboration of the accuracy of those perceptions. This study was designed to remove such doubts because the specific targets (1) were unexpected and unusual visual images, (2) were generated by a quasi-random computer algorithm, and (3) were compared to the pool of possible targets by three independent judges blind to the actual target. We hypothesized that participants describing near-death experi- ences during ICD testing would be able to identify a randomly generated visual display that was visible from a height over their body at the time of the procedure. We attempted to test this hypothesis by asking all participants, regardless of whether or not they described NDEs occurring during their ICD testing, whether they remembered anything unusual happening during their procedure, and whether they saw anything unexpected during their procedure. Methods Procedure for ICD Implantation and Testing The ICD implantation and testing was carried out by cardiac electrophysiologists and their clinical support personnel at the University of Virginia Health System in one of two procedure rooms designed for that purpose. Patients were premedicated with mid- azolam and/or fentanyl, and received anesthesia with propofol and/or etomidate during the procedure. The procedure took approximately one hour, during which the patient was typically unconscious for about 10 minutes. During that 10-minute period of unconsciousness, ventricular fibrillation was typically induced twice in order to test and calibrate the ICD. Physiological variables were routinely documented in the patients' medical record, including the duration of the cardiac arrest (both ventricular fibrillation and cardiac asystole) and medica- tions administered during the procedure.
Quarterly journal publishing papers related to near-death experiences, including research reports; theoretical or conceptual statements; expressions of a scientific, philosophic, religious, or historical perspective on the study of near-death experiences; cross-cultural studies; individual case histories; and personal accounts of experiences or related phenomena.
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