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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/nov/20/humans-put-into-suspended-animation-for-first-time
Doctors have put humans into a state of suspended animation for the first time in a groundbreaking trial that aims to buy more time for surgeons to save seriously injured patients.
The process involves rapidly cooling the brain to less than 10C by replacing the patient’s blood with ice-cold saline solution. Typically the solution is pumped directly into the aorta, the main artery that carries blood away from the heart to the rest of the body.
Known formally as emergency preservation and resuscitation, or EPR, the procedure is being trialled on people who sustain such catastrophic injuries that they are in danger of bleeding to death and who suffer a heart attack shortly before they can be treated. The patients, who are often victims of stabbings or shootings, would normally have less than a 5% chance of survival.
[...] Rapid cooling of trauma victims is designed to reduce brain activity to a near standstill and to slow the patient’s physiology enough to give surgeons precious extra minutes, perhaps more than an hour, to operate. Once the patient’s injuries have been attended to, they are warmed up and resuscitated.
One aim of the US trial is to reduce the brain damage that patients are often left with if they survive such serious injuries. When the heart stops and blood stops circulating, the brain quickly becomes starved of oxygen, suffering irreparable damage within about five minutes.
The trial will compare the outcomes of 20 men and women who receive standard emergency care or EPR. The trial is due to run until the end of the year, and full results are not expected until late 2020.
One complication of the procedure is that patients’ cells can become damaged as they are warmed up after surgery.
Also reported at:
- https://www.engadget.com/2019/11/20/human-patient-put-in-suspended-animation-for-the-first-time/
- https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-11-medical-trauma-patient-state-animation.html
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday November 27 2019, @10:57AM
It's an open question who has the better suspension system*, but CI will accept patients who are already suspended. It wouldn't be as cheap as going straight to CI, but you could avoid the Alcor trust component, which is a significant part of the cost difference.
*I think it is going to take MNT level reconstruction to restore almost all of the people currently suspended. The argument then reduces to which system best preserves the information at the cell/synapse/neuron level to allow that. Gross cracking from straight freezing looks bad, but actually erases very little information. It may turn out that the best suspensions were the early ones with straight freezing to LN2 temps.
Good luck, and I'll see you at the wake-up party. :)
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.