Reanimating

Reanimating refers to the act of restoring life support functions to a person after cessation of breathing and/or circulation. In medicine, it is most commonly encountered as resuscitation intended to revive a person who has experienced cardiac arrest or severe trauma, with the goal of achieving return of spontaneous circulation and preserving neurological function.

Clinical methods include basic life support such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which combines chest compressions with rescue breaths, and advanced life support, which may involve airway management, drug therapy, defibrillation, and continuous monitoring. When possible, techniques such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or targeted temperature management (therapeutic hypothermia) are used to support organs while circulation is restored and recovery occurs.

Outcomes depend on factors including time to resuscitation, underlying cause, and quality of post-resuscitation care. Brain injury is a major concern, and prolonged downtime reduces the likelihood of meaningful recovery. In many jurisdictions, death is defined by legal criteria (such as irreversible loss of circulatory and/or brain function); resuscitation decisions are guided by medical assessment, patient wishes, and advance directives.

Beyond medical emergency settings, reanimation has historical and philosophical dimensions in popular culture, where the term is often used to describe reviving the dead or creating undead beings. In scientific discourse, real reanimation focuses on restoring physiology in living patients rather than reviving the dead. Research areas include organ preservation, perfusion technologies, and strategies to improve neurological outcomes after cardiac arrest.