X-Message-Number: 273
Date: 20 Jan 91 15:39:13 EST
From: Steve Bridge <>
To: KEVIN <>
Subject: Alcor New Year Suspension
Message-Id: <"910120203912 72320.1642 EHI64-1"@CompuServe.COM>
TO: Kevin
Jan 20, 1991
Ralph Whelan, Membership Administrator for the Alcor Life Extension
Foundation, has posted the following account of a recent cryonic
suspension to me to pass along to the mailing list. I think it is a
remarkable example of the kind of preparation and comittment Alcor has for
its members.
Ralph tells me that Alcor is having problems with its Portal account
and it may not be accessible right now. Please report any problems you
discover.
Ralph also notes that the end-of-the-year rush on suspension
memberships with Alcor was overwhelming. Alcor now has about 200 fully
signed-up Suspension Members, and another 230 (!) in the sign-up process.
He apologizes to anyone who feels that their paperwork seems delayed in
Alcor's processing. Ralph is working 12-hour days trying to get
everything caught up. Computer programs are being developed to speed this
process up, but for the next few months sign-up administration will
continue to be a labor intensive activity.
Do let Ralph know if you have not received needed sign-up materials
or if your papers have been in Alcor's hands for several weeks with no
response. We don't want anyone to be missed on a filing error or
misunderstanding.
NEW YEAR'S DAY SUSPENSION (by Ralph Whelan)
The call came at approximately 10:00 a.m. on the 31st of December.
A group of us had spent three days in Mike Darwin's Transport Training
Course (learning how to prepare suspension patients for transport to
Alcor's facility). The group consisted of myself, Fred and Linda
Chamberlain, Art McCombs, Carlos Mondragon, Mike Perry, Mark Voelker, Arel
Lucas, Naomi Reynolds, and Russ Whitaker. We were on the last day of the
training, just preparing to practice our meds and transport techniques on
a 105 pound pig that we'd already doped up with thorazine. Carlos took
the initial telephone call, which informed us that an Alcor member (an 88-
year old woman) had developed an abdominal aortic aneurysm about the size
of a grapefruit, and that they would probably have to operate within the
next couple of days.
Mike Darwin thought it over for a few minutes, then decided to call
off the pig scenario. He didn't want us tying up supplies and personnel,
not to mention spreading potentially infectious pig waste throughout the
facility. Some of the "old hands" began prepping the lab, while others
(specifically, me) began the frantic six-hour search for Jerry Leaf (who
was vacationing in Hawaii).
About a half-hour later another call came. The patient was fading
fast; as it turned out, the aneurysm had started to leak badly and her
blood pressure was down to about 60 mmHg. It was felt that the aneurysm
could rupture at any time. After some discussion between Mike, Carlos,
the doctors, and the patient's family, it was decided that the patient
would be operated on and a graft of Gortex used to replace the failing
vessel as soon as possible. This was done not to try and save the
patient's life, but rather to give Alcor a "patent pipe" to perfuse her
through and also prevent her from bleeding out so that transport "Thumper"
(heart-lung resuscitator) support might still be effective.
Mike rallied the team, and 45 minutes after the call came in, seven
people (The Chamberlains, Carlos, Mike, Russ, Arel, and Mark) left for the
hospital in the ambulance and Carlos' car. Art, myself, Hugh, and Mike
Perry took over the lab preparations. Art began the tedious process of
mixing the perfusate, while Hugh and Mike Perry made a dry ice run and
then began trying to untangle the heart-lung machine schematics, on the
chance that Jerry couldn't be reached.
The patient was operated on, survived the operation but began fading
after it. Unfortunately she developed a complication known as DIC
(diffuse intravascular clotting) which caused her to BLEED to death.
About 1-2 hours after they reached the hospital, the patient was declared
legally dead. Seventeen minutes later (there was a delay while the death
was cleared with the Medical Examiner, since it was within 30 days of a
surgical procedure) surface cooling and transport began. About fifty-five
minutes after that the crew arrived back at the lab.
While the transport medications were given OK, the patient had lost
so much blood volume that CPR was not effective at restoring circulation,
and everything that was poured into her to support her volume just quickly
leaked out through the bleeding incisions.
Things were pretty "normal" for the next few hours. I finally
reached Jerry Leaf, and he was on his way back. We'd cooled the patient
pretty effectively, and managed to "flush" her (do a blood washout) with
six liters of Viaspan with remarkable success. Mike went into her groin
and used the Gortex graft to perfuse the Viaspan through and cannulated
her femoral vein for drainage. So, even though the graft didn't help with
her initial transport, at least it allowed her to get flushed with Viaspan
and served as plumbing for her cryoprotective perfusion later. Then all
we could do was wait for Jerry, which was okay, since the perfusate was
still being filtered and the patient was quite cool (about 2 degrees C)
and flushed.
Saul Kent returned from LAX with Jerry at about 2 a.m. Jerry spent a
few hours setting up the heart-lung machine and supervising the perfusate
filtering while most of the team slept. Russ and I spent the night
watchdogging the filtering and assisting Jerry.
Early in the morning (around sevenish, I think) the sleepers were
called in and the surgical team--consisting of Jerry, Dr. Thomas Munson,
and Art McCombs--scrubbed up while the patient was prepped and the rest of
the team took straight IV infusions of 50% caffeine solution. Somebody
mumbled "happy new year," I'm not sure who.
The surgery in preparation for perfusion took about a one and a half
hours. Mike's burr hole (a small hole in the skull to give the team
visual observation of the patient's brain) revealed that perfusion was
"successful," though I think sub-optimal; she developed some brain
swelling and the microscopic clots from the DIC caused very patchy
perfusion in her tissues. I think that the suspension went about as well
as it could have, which was in fact rather well. The ischemic insult time
was an artifact of the medical red tape, rather than our response time
(which was good) or Jerry's absence (which really didn't interfere with
the transport phase much at all).
Jerry flew right back to Hawaii. The transfer of the patient (whole
body) to dry ice cooling in silicone oil was uneventful; and the patient
was transferred to liquid nitrogen storage a few days later, after
completion of the individual protective aluminum "cassette." This is a
new development for our large four-patient storage dewar, to provide both
better protection and better access to the whole body patients.
Alcor now has 17 patients in storage.
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