In his January 2008 Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) article, “Nothing but the Truth,” Criss Brainard provides examples of two cases where voice recording technology could aid in clearing the names of emergency personnel who had been accused of inappropriate conduct during patient transport. While cryonics standby team members may not need to worry [...]
After legal pronouncement of death, cryonics patients benefit from rapid stabilization to protect the brain from injury. The most fundamental intervention is induction of hypothermia. Unlike other interventions such as cardiopulmonary support (CPS) and administration of neuroprotective medications, induction of hypothermia is an intrinsic part of cryonics. Unfortunately, surface cooling with ice is not a [...]
The objective of cryonics stabilization is to arrest metabolism of the patient so that he can be preserved indefinitely until resuscitation and rejuvenation technologies are available. Induction of hypothermia is the principal method employed in cryonics to reduce metabolism, thereby slowing down the rate of all chemical reactions in the body, including the ischemia-induced cellular [...]
The journal Neuropharmacology recently published a new review of the current state of the art in neuroprotection for ischemic stroke. A strict definition of a neuroprotectant excludes agents that have as their goal circulatory patency or the reversal of vascular occlusion, such as thrombolytics and anticoagulants. As a consequence, the only medication that is approved [...]
Conventional CPR typically generates around one-third to one-fourth of normal cardiac output, which is not sufficient to meet cerebral energy demands. In cryonics patients, cardiac output may be further compromised because many patients are atherosclerotic and/or have gone through a prolonged period of shock / multiple organ failure prior to pronouncement of legal death. However, [...]
One argument that is often raised in favor of “field vitrification” (or vehicle based vitrification) is that it will reduce the time of (cold) ischemia and eliminate the harmful effects of remote blood washout and transport of a patient on water ice to a cryonics facility. A related argument is that field vitrification will eliminate [...]
L-Kynurenine (L-KYN) is one of the neuroprotective agents used in cryonics stabilization protocol to limit injury to the brain after cardiac arrest. Administration of L-KYN was perceived to be essential to resuscitate dogs from extended periods (up to 17 minutes) of normothermic ischemia during the Critical Care Research (CCR) cerebral resuscitation experiments in the [...]
A comprehensive review of cryonics stabilization medications is now published on the Alcor website.
Table of contents:
* Introduction
* General Anesthesia
* Blood Coagulation
* Vasoactive Medications
* Excitotoxity
* Free Radicals
* Nitric Oxide and PARP
* Inflammation
* Antibiotics
* Acidosis
* Hemodilution and Osmotic Therapy
* Coenzyme Q10
* Magnesium
* Na+ /H+ Exchange Inhibition
* Immunosuppressive Drugs
* Gastrointestinal Ischemia
* Depressed Metabolism
* Combining Medications
* Conclusion
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Elevation of body temperature occurring as a result of hypothalamic coordination of autonomic, neuroendocrine, and behavioral responses in reaction to physiological injury or invasion is generally known as fever. Traditional thought is that the “febrile response” is beneficial in preventing the proliferation of invading microorganisms, but some caregivers consider fever to be harmful and prescribe [...]
The best non-invasive indicator of cardiac output and oxygenation during cardiopulmonary support (CPS) is end tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO2). ETCO2 is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the end of an exhaled breath. Until recently, cryonics standby kits were equipped with disposable colorimetric ETCO2 detectors. Some limitations of the disposable ETCO2 detectors [...]
