X-Message-Number: 2912
From: whscad1!kqb (Kevin Q Brown +1 201 386 7344)
Subject: CRYONICS Keeping a Cool Head

Message #2387 (Aug. 16, 1993) mentioned the work of Ronald Klatz and
Robert Goldman on producing a BRD ("Brain Resuscitation Device") for reducing
ischemic injury to the brain after cardiac arrest.  According to a recent
report, this briefcase-sized unit not only cools the brain but also injects
a cocktail of medications in a procedure that sounds remarkably similar
to the stabilization phase of cryopreservations.  The BRD wasn't created
for cryonics purposes, though.  Klatz points out that traditional CPR is
particularly good at producing brain-dead patients, and _that_ is what
prompted his invention to help save the brain, too.

Oh yes, where did I see this news?  On pages 38 - 46 of the Aug. 1994
OMNI magazine.  Admittedly, this isn't Nature or JAMA, etc., but it is
readily available on most newsstands.  You may want to read this article
for the connection between the BRD and organ preservation work (for
transplantation purposes) at the Red Cross, too.

                              Kevin Q. Brown
                              
                              

PS: Given the similarity of the BRD to some cryonics procedures,
    cryonics researchers have yet one more reason to thoroughly
    document and publish their work, especially any of their new
    procedures or equipment.  If they don't, they may find someday
    that their breakthroughs have been patented by someone else, and
    thereby lose access to their own creations.  (Being in the computer
    business, I'm perhaps more sensitized to that kind of thing happening
    than people in most other businesses.)  FYI: For an interesting
    example of using a patent to deny access to an invention, not
    just impose royalties, see message #74 (Jan. 11, 1992).

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