Medical Research: Suspended animation

[Kragen]

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,376140,00.html

Edit:

Researchers allow pigs and dogs to bleed to death, fill their bodies with cold saline solution, and then bring the dead animals back to life a few hours later. The ability to switch living beings off and then on again could revolutionize medicine -- especially treatment of bleeding victims or heart-attack patients.

The researchers have basicly been able to completely stop a pig's metabolism, putting them in a suspended state where they are technicaly dead, however can be recussitated after as long as 2-3 hours later with no neurological damage.

Research has shown that this technique could be very useful in medicine when dealing with AE cases where currently surgeons and doctors can repair the damage, however dont have the time to do so. They are hoping to try this technique on a human who would otherwise almost certainly die from their wounds before they could be patched up, for example a gunshot victim.

Research on pig's has also showed that this technique has far higher probability of success over traditional resuscitation methods and could revolutionize emergency medicine.

The implications of this in medicine could be huge, but it is also intresting how the human body can be seen almost as a machine - you can turn it off completely, and as long as you can preserve the cell, if can be restarted at a later time with no neurological damage - the "person" is still preserved as a collection of cell's forming a brain.

/Edit

[coheneran]

While that's a very interesting article, this is no way to make a thread. You have to include vital paragraphs from the article, make it clear what aspect of this concept you want to discuss, and then opine your views on the subject of discussion.

[Knifeboy]

There was posted a few links about this about a year ago, it's great to see that the technology is reaching a level where it can be used on humans

Originally Posted by coheneran

While that's a very interesting article, this is no way to make a thread. You have to include vital paragraphs from the article, make it clear what aspect of this concept you want to discuss, and then opine your views on the subject of discussion.

Not necesarilly, no. This is a news forum too.. Discussion usually comes naturally if there is anything to discuss

[coheneran]

I feel one coming on now:

You're WRONG!

[PerpetualBurn]

I remember this being posted before. Is anything else on this actually on a recognised site?

[Kragen]

I've edited my post just for you :P

[PerpetualBurn]

Plurals don't need apostrophes damn it!

[PerpetualBurn]

The physicians flood the animals' bodies with several liters of a saline solution that's been cooled to about two degrees C (36° F). This puts the animals into a mysterious state of suspended animation that prevents the cells of their lifeless bodies from dying off. None of the animals feel pain, because the experiments are done under full anesthesia.

This doesn't make sense to me. Pump as much saline in as you want but if the cells aren't being supplied with oxygen and other nutrients, they aren't going to last.

[Knifeboy]

Originally Posted by PerpetualBurn

I remember this being posted before. Is anything else on this actually on a recognised site?

This is a newer article than the one posted, this one mentions that they are going to test it on humans within a year or two

Originally Posted by PerpetualBurn

This doesn't make sense to me. Pump as much saline in as you want but if the cells aren't being supplied with oxygen and other nutrients, they aren't going to last.

Did you read the article? The cells aren't supposed to last for more than a few hours, wich cooling them down definately would do. The whole point is that this is a way to save people from bleeding to death

[Kragen]

Originally Posted by PerpetualBurn

This doesn't make sense to me. Pump as much saline in as you want but if the cells aren't being supplied with oxygen and other nutrients, they aren't going to last.

Thats the thing - apparantly the metabolic process causes the cells to produce free oxygen radicals which are toxic and kill the cell. Removing oxygen and cooling the cells slows the metabolic process and means no free oxygen radicals are produced as there is no oxygen, the cells actualy last longer in this state than they would do with limited oxygen supply - for example when the heart is stopped.

The application isnt so much to save people from bleeding to death so much as to almost purposely bleed them to death - this technique could then preserve the cells & give the doctors and surgeons more time to repair damage in cases where otherwise the patient would have died too soon and resusciation would not have been possible.

[Knifeboy]

Originally Posted by Kragen

The application isnt so much to save people from bleeding to death so much as to almost purposely bleed them to death - this technique could then preserve the cells & give the doctors and surgeons more time to repair damage in cases where otherwise the patient would have died too soon and resusciation would not have been possible.

... Thus... Saving them from bleeding to death

[Kragen]

Originally Posted by Knifeboy

... Thus... Saving them from bleeding to death

Yeah - it's just weird to think of them purposely letting someone die so they can save them. :P

[spitfirejunky]

Interesting.

[coheneran]

Originally Posted by PerpetualBurn

This doesn't make sense to me. Pump as much saline in as you want but if the cells aren't being supplied with oxygen and other nutrients, they aren't going to last.

I don't want to sound nasty or be offending by reminding you of basic biology, but hey: All life reacts differently to different temperatures, and lower temperatures slow down the metabolic processes (that's when chemicals are used in your body, which means basically everything) of the body, but if the temperature is too low, the metabolic processes stop completely. That's why people almost always die if they go to sleep outside in extremely cold temperatures. It's also how some animals hibernate; their bodies have evolved to keep a balance with outside temperature and body temperature, so as to slow down the body's metabolism (hence not having to eat or drink for the winter) but keep the animal live. The concept here is kind of like hibernation, but more extreme and better controlled.

[italic zero]

sup fantômas

[Ugoff]

I remember reading about this a while ago. I think this is really neat. I don't know if we would ever have the capibilities for suspended animation within our lifetimes but that maybe we can atleast slow down the aging process.