Human patient put in suspended animation for the first time

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Scientists (and sci-fi fans) have been talking about suspended animation for years. The idea that the functions of the human body can somehow be put on "pause" while life-saving medical procedures are performed (or a person is sent into space, a la Alien) has long seemed untenable -- until now. According to New Scientist, doctors have successfully placed humans in suspended animation for the first time, in a trial that could have an enormous influence on the future of emergency room surgery.

The technique is officially called "emergency preservation and resuscitation" (EPR) and is being tested at the University of Maryland Medical Center on patients that arrive with acute trauma, such as a stab wound or gunshot. Given the nature of their injuries, these patients would normally have a survival rate of less than five percent.

With EPR, the patient is cooled rapidly by replacing their blood with ice-cold saline -- the heart stops beating and brain activity almost completely stops. At normal body temperatures, cells need a constant supply of oxygen to remain alive, but the cold temperature slows or stops the chemical reactions in cells, which need less oxygen as a result. The human braincan survive for around five minutes without oxygen before damage occurs, but through EPR a surgical team has two hours to work on the patient's injuries before they're warmed up and their heart is restarted.

According to Samuel Tisherman, part of the team at the Baltimore facility, full results of the trial are expected to be announced by the end of 2020 -- there are still factors to work through. While Tisherman's team has put a cool limit of two hours on a human body, it's not entirely clear exactly how long a person could remain in suspended animation without suffering any physical side effects. Nonetheless, Tisherman says the team is learning a lot as it moves forward with the trial. "I want to make clear that we're not trying to send people off to Saturn," he said. "We're trying to buy ourselves more time to save lives."
 
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So this is like putting your body in standby, sleep or hibernation mode like on a computer. whoa.
 
It's too many people already on this planet. Why we figuring out ways to save them from a knife fight they got into. Legalize psychedelics first.
 
I mean that when you think of any scientific discovery, people don't consider that the steps lead to the revelation or ultimate innovation.

So no, two hours isn't long, but you need to get to two hours before you can put someone on ice for year-long stages to get them through, perhaps, climate change scenarios.

I don't know :lol:, theories.
 
It's too many people already on this planet. Why we figuring out ways to save them from a knife fight they got into. Legalize psychedelics first.
legalizing psychedelics would lead to more of those knife fights :lol:
 
So this is just a new anesthesia....that could **** you up if the surgeon takes too long?

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So this is just a new anesthesia....that could **** you up if the surgeon takes too long?

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anesthesia
"According to Brown, anesthetic drugs cause brain circuits to change their oscillation patterns in particular ways, thereby preventing neurons in different brain regions from communicating with each other. The result is a loss of consciousness—an unnatural state that he compares to a “reversible coma”—that differs from sleep."
 
Pretty sure all brain function isn’t completely stopped on anesthesia
It isn't. Your vital signs (BP, temperature, heart rate, respirations) are controlled by the brain stem and hypothalamus. Anesthesia alters your vital signs, but your brain is still functioning.

Also don't expect to see this used in most operating rooms any time soon.
 
It isn't. Your vital signs (BP, temperature, heart rate, respirations) are controlled by the brain stem and hypothalamus. Anesthesia alters your vital signs, but your brain is still functioning.

Also don't expect to see this used in most operating rooms any time soon.
I wonder how the decision to do this will work. In the event that it goes bad, I'm sure doctors will be sued. So is consent gonna be required for something like this or what?
 
I wonder how the decision to do this will work. In the event that it goes bad, I'm sure doctors will be sued. So is consent gonna be required for something like this or what?
Consent is required for literally every medical procedure/decision. The anesthesiologists/nurse anesthetists usually obtain consent from the patient (or family in the event that the patient doesn't have the capacity to make decisions for themselves) the day before a scheduled surgery in the hospital I work at.

Anesthesiologists are going to have to familiarize themselves with this approach (which probably means a ton of hours of training/education and possible certifications), medical directors/educators in hospitals are going to have to start working on drafts for policies and procedures regarding the practice, and the researchers are going to have to work out a ton of kinks before you see this as a common practice in the OR.
 
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