X-Message-Number: 20399
Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 14:16:06 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: News Void

I do indeed have plans to fill the "news void." While my primary duty for
Alcor is to enhance its standby capability, and my secondary objective is
to work on other aspects of patient care, I am of course acutely aware of
the need to communicate with our members, potential members, observers,
and members of other organizations.

As a rather brief and inadequate step in this direction, I can announce
that Alcor cryopreserved one of its members on Sunday night/Monday
morning, November 3/4. Our active involvement in this case was initiated
by a call from a relative who wanted us to begin a standby near the
beginning of October. The standby team was deployed, but I scaled back the
standby when it became apparent that it was liable to last for many weeks.
There were financial factors, other practical factors, and burnout factors
(we cannot afford to inflict _too_ many gruelling experiences on our
standby people).

While the hospital and the relative promised to inform us of any change in
the patient's condition, this did not occur. Fortunately however I made
periodic phone calls and learned of a potentially serious drop in blood
pressure on Saturday Nov 2, and I asked our Southern California team
leader, Russell Cheney, to go to the remote location where the patient had
been in an ICU for many weeks. Russell arrived just after the patient
arrested. Fortunately the patient's relative (who is a doctor) performed
emergency procedures precisely as I had described them to him. Within 7
hours after arrest, the patient was at Alcor, via air ambulance. This was
Alcor's first whole-body case in about three years. Surgery was performed
well, and a glycerol perfusion reached a terminal concentration of around
7.1 (this figure is being supplied from memory; I do not have notes with
me right now). Perfusion of the brain seemed good, with minimal edema.
Fortuitously, Tanya Jones was visiting Alcor, and we benefited from her
extensive past experience. The patient is now in the cooling phase.

This was a very difficult case, primarily because of human factors, but
the outcome was much better than I had expected. I will supply a more
detailed account in the future. This summary has not been checked by other
Alcor staff; it is a hasty preliminary response to the request for more
Alcor information.

--Charles Platt
Director of Suspension Services, Alcor Foundation

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