Agonal Breathing This means the breathing pattern is reflexive, and no longer a response to conscious awareness. Agonal gasping at the end of life is not a “desire or hunger for air” but rather a basic reflex of the dying brain.
The duration of the gasping respiration phase varies; it may be as brief as one or two breaths to a prolonged period of gasping lasting minutes or even hours.
Agonal breathing is a sign that a person is near death. It's also a sign that the brain is still alive. People who have agonal breathing and are given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are more likely to survive cardiac arrest than people without agonal breathing.
Agonal Breathing Definition
Agonal breathing or agonal respirations are medical terms used to describe insufficient breathing that often sounds like snoring, snorting, gasping, or labored breathing. The person will appear to be choking or having an involuntary gasp reflex.
As the moment of death comes nearer, the person's breathing may slow down and become irregular. It might stop and then start again or there might be long pauses or stops between breaths. This is sometimes known as Cheyne-Stokes breathing.
Agonal breathing is a near-death condition where a person gasps and moans. Their face may grimace as if they're in pain. But, like with agonal rhythm, a person experiencing agonal breathing isn't in agony. Most likely, they're unconscious and what you see is only a reflex.
Agonal Rhythm - Ventricular Rhythms
Heart rate is less than 20 bpm, without P waves and a wide, bizarre QRS complex. The rate is often so slow, that on a singular six-second rhythm strip it will be impossible to determine whether the rhythm is regular or irregular.
Agonal breathing is slow, very shallow irregular respirations. Kussmaul's respiration is a deep, sighing respiration with normal or slow rate. Sighing respiration is a normal physiologic reaction of human body to fatigue and emotional changes.
Blood gasses are normal. Agonal breathing is characterized by slow, very shallow irregular respirations that result from anoxic brain injury. This will often progress to apnea depending on the underlying cause. Apnea is the absence of breathing.
Gasping is a brainstem reflex; it is the last respiratory pattern prior to terminal apnoea. Gasping is also referred to as agonal respiration and the name is appropriate because the gasping respirations appear uncomfortable, causing concern that the patient is dyspnoeic and in agony.
Terminal secretions can happen alongside agonal breathing, making for gurgling groans or grunts on exhalation – which can be very noisy, and to those who are not aware that they are not a sign of the dying person in distress, this can be upsetting.
Cheyne-Stokes respiration is an atypical pattern of breathing involving deep breathing followed by shallow breathing. It is a serious condition that usually occurs due to an underlying health condition, such as congestive heart failure. Treatment typically involves managing the underlying condition.
They Know They're Dying
Dying is a natural process that the body has to work at. Just as a woman in labor knows a baby is coming, a dying person may instinctively know death is near. Even if your loved one doesn't discuss their death, they most likely know it is coming.
Your loved one may sleep more and might be more difficult to awaken. Hearing and vision may decrease. There may be a gradual decrease in the need for food and drink. Your loved one will say he or she doesn't have an appetite or isn't hungry.
This stage is also one of reflection. The dying person often thinks back over their life and revisits old memories.4 They might also be going over the things they regret.
Depending on the cause of agonal breathing, the person may or may not be conscious. This agonal respiration most often happens after the heart has stopped. So there is no blood being pumped to the brain, or anywhere else. During such an event, seconds matter.
Agonal breathing is the medical term for gasping for breath. It is usually a symptom of a severe medical emergency, such as stroke or cardiac arrest. Agonal breathing can be brief or it may last for several hours. The gasping associated with agonal breathing is not true breathing, but rather a brainstem reflex.
Often referred to as "agonal breathing," Cheyne-Stokes respirations may be a sign of a serious lung, brain, or circulatory problem like a pulmonary edema, stroke, or heart failure. It also commonly occurs as a person approaches the end of life.
You will need to be able to recognize the four lethal rhythms. Asystole, Ventricle Tachycardia (VT), Ventricle Fibrillation (VF), and Polymorphic Ventricle Tachycardia (Torsade de pointes). Use this study guide and other resource books to review ECG interpretation.
Agonal respiration is an abnormal pattern of breathing and brainstem reflex characterized by gasping and gulping breaths that are accompanied by strange vocalizations.
Clinically, an agonal rhythm is regarded as asystole and should be treated equivalently, with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and administration of intravenous adrenaline. As in asystole, the prognosis for a patient presenting with this rhythm is very poor.
If the person is unresponsive and not breathing or only exhibiting agonal breathing, it is crucial to initiate CPR. Begin by performing chest compressions, followed by rescue breaths if you are trained in CPR.
There may be times when a dying person has an abnormal breathing pattern, known as Cheyne-Stokes breathing. The person's breathing may alternate between deep, heavy breaths and shallow or even no breaths. Some people very near death might have noisy breathing, sometimes called a death rattle.
The term agony, deriving from the Greek ἀγωνία that means “fight”, defines the last moments of the living organism's existence before the encounter with death, and its phenomenology is still to be explored. One of the most problematic issues related to agony is its length.