It has been shown experimentally that irreversible brain injury and death may follow after 5–7 nun of cerebral ischemia and that even brief periods, 2 min or less, can produce focal damage to the nervous system. All published studies demonstrating a protective effect of barbiturates have been performed in animals.A patient is presented who recovered full neurological function after 13 min of hypovolemic hypertension. This remarkable outcome may have been due to the rapid institution of high-dose barbiturate therapy. The extent to which such therapy affected his outcome is unclear, but does add to the growing body of evidence suggesting a favorable effect from this type of barbiturate therapy.