Reading Doc's post on Buddha Boy jogged my memory of this story. Not a
lot of coverage (at least by Google standards) but still very
interesting, IMO.
Happy Holidays,
Marvin
-----------------------------------
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=173760
Japanese Man Hibernates For Three Weeks
Friday Dec 22 12:00 AEDT
By ninemsn staff and wires
In an extraordinary story of survival, a Japanese man has survived on a
mountain for three weeks without food or water after entering a
hibernation-like state.
When Mitsutaka Uchikoshi was discovered by a passing climber on Mount
Rokko this October, his body temperature had dropped to 22 degrees and
his pulse was barely discernible.
Uchikoshi went missing after a work barbecue on October 7. He
reportedly left the function and walked down the mountain alone, before
falling into a nearby stream and breaking his pelvis.
"On the second day, the sun was out, I was in a field, and I felt very
comfortable. That's my last memory," Uchikoshi, 35, told reporters on
Tuesday before returning home from Kobe hospital. "I must have fallen
asleep after that."
Doctors believe Uchikoshi went into a state of hibernation that helped
him stay alive as temperatures on the mountain dropped.
"He fell into a state similar to hibernation and many of his organs
slowed, but his brain was protected," said Dr. Shinichi Sato, head of
the hospital's emergency unit.
"I believe his brain capacity has recovered 100 percent."
Experts are unsure how Uchikoshi managed to achieve hibernation, and
stay alive as his metabolism slowed to near-standstill.
"This case is revolutionary if the patient truly survived at such a low
body temperature over such a long period of time," said Hirohito
Shiomi, a hibernation expert at Fukuyama University.
"Researchers would have to clarify whether Uchikoshi's body temperature
dropped very quickly, or whether he started losing body heat much later
and was in fact dying when rescuers found him."
Doctors expect Uchikoshi to make a full recovery.
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