The Heart in the Terminal State: Effect of Intracardiac Epinephrine

As a consequence of recent animal experiments demonstrating the pos-sibilities of revival of organisms, much interest has been aroused regarding the mode of death of the human heart particularly in regard to its functional deterioration. In addition, a study of the dramatic effect of intracardiac therapy on the terminal heart in patients dying from various diseases has been considered by us as a field of paramount importance particularly since we have had occasion to witness recently several instances of precipitous, unexpected, and unexplained death. Objective studies of the effect of death on the heart must depend in great part on the use of electrocardiography, which in addition to increasing pro-foundly our knowledge of the heart in health and disease has aided greatly in the investigation of the heart in its clinical and subsequent biologic death. The electrocardiogram has demonstrated repeatedly that clinical death char-acterized by the disappearance of heart sounds and cessation of respiration is followed in many cases for a variable and at times a prolonged period by