On Sept. 19, 2024, scientists from Sun Yat-Sen University in China announced they had revived a pig’s brain nearly an hour after Sudden cardiac arrest (CA). An estimated 375,000–700,000 citizens experience CA, an unexpected cessation of heart function, in Europe and the United States each year.

In the ex vivo brain normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) model, the researchers demonstrated that addition of a functioning liver to the brain NMP circuit significantly reduced post-CA brain injury, increased neuronal viability, and improved electrocortical activity.

The current study highlighted a novel cardio-pulmonary-hepatic-cerebral resuscitation strategy, which might help reduce patient death after CA.