X-Message-Number: 29534
Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 21:38:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: 
Subject: induced hibernation

[Successfuly inducing hibernation before "deanimation" would likely reduce
damage derived from that event. On a more speculative note, hibernation
may provide a means to "time-travel" to the future, for those inclined.]

>From The Sunday Times May 27, 2007

Race to be first to 'hibernate' human beingsJohn Harlow in Los Angeles

TURNING science fiction into science fact, American doctors are preparing
to chill volunteers into a state of suspended animation that could keep
them asleep for months.

Medical teams in Los Angeles, Boston and Pittsburgh are racing to become
the first to test out new theories of "induced hibernation" which could
save lives and also help to send man towards the stars.

Hasan Alam, a surgeon at Massachusetts general hospital and consultant to
the US army, is poised to start the first human trials before the end of
the year.

Last week he said that he wanted to equip ambulances with a clear saline
solution called plasma expander that would be injected into seriously
injured victims at the scene of a car accident.

The plasma would rapidly send body temperature from 37C to 10C, slowing
the metabolism, delaying the onset of shock and limiting damage from
wounds.

Alam has experimented on eight-stone Yorkshire pigs, stopping the heart
and electrical activity in the brain for up to two hours before slowly
replacing the plasma with warm blood and reviving the animals with no
apparent long-term effects.

The plasma could also be tested on soldiers: many survive an initial
injury only to die waiting for treatment.

Alam, a trauma specialist, is primarily thinking about the time-critical
dash to hospital. But researchers at the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) and the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research at the
University of Pittsburgh are more ambitious. "You start with 20 minutes
and then find the limits - days, weeks, months, we do not yet know," said
a UCLA medical school researcher.

Although it is 20 years since Nasa abandoned work on induced hibernation
as a way of helping astronauts to survive long space missions, research
began again at the European Space Agency in 2004. Funding has flowed in
the United States since October, when Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, 35, strayed
from a Japanese office barbecue, fell down a snowy mountain and broke his
hip.

He lapsed into a frozen coma, which lasted 24 days until his apparently
lifeless body was found and revived in a Kobe hospital. He is now known
in Japanese newspapers as the "Bear Man".

"We don't know how he survived so long, but his body was preserved in ice
for nearly a month and now he is back to normal," a Kobe doctor said. "If
we can understand why, we can save many lives in the future."

Surgery. 2006 Aug;140(2):307-14.
Profound hypothermia is superior to ultraprofound hypothermia in
improving survival in a swine model of lethal injuries.
    Alam HB, Chen Z, Li Y, Velmahos G, DeMoya M, Keller CE, Toruno K,
Mehrani T, Rhee P, Spaniolas K. Trauma Research and Readiness Institute
for Surgery, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences,
Bethesda, USA.
    BACKGROUND: Rapid induction of profound hypothermia can improve
survival from uncontrolled lethal hemorrhage. However, the optimal depth
of hypothermia in this setting remains unknown. This experiment was
designed to compare the impact of deep (15 degrees C), profound (10
degrees C), and ultraprofound (5 degrees C) hypothermia on survival and
organ functions. METHODS: Uncontrolled lethal hemorrhage was induced in
32 swine (80-120 lb) by creating an iliac artery and vein injury,
followed 30 minutes later by laceration of the descending thoracic
aorta. Hypothermia was induced rapidly (2 degrees C/min) by infusing cold
organ preservation solution into the aorta through a thoracotomy. The
experimental groups were (n = 8 per group): a normothermic control, and 3
hypothermic groups in which the core temperature was reduced to 15
degrees C, 10 degrees C, and 5 degrees C. Vascular injuries were repaired
during 60 minutes of hypothermia. Animals were then rewarmed (0.5 degrees
C/min) and resuscitated on cardiopulmonary bypass, and monitored for 6
weeks for neurologic deficits, cognitive function, and organ
dysfunction. RESULTS: All normothermic animals died, whereas 6-week
survival rates for the 15 degrees C, 10 degrees C, and 5 degrees C groups
were 62.5%, 87.5%, and 25%, respectively (P < .05: normothermic vs 15
degrees C and 10 degrees C; 10 degrees C vs 5 degrees C). The surviving
animals from the 15 degrees C and 10 degrees C groups were neurologically
intact, displayed normal learning capacity, and had no long-term organ
dysfunction. The survivors from the 5 degrees C group displayed slower
recovery and impaired cognitive functions. CONCLUSIONS: In a model of
lethal injuries, rapid induction of profound hypothermia can prevent
death. The depth of hypothermia influences survival, with a better outcome
associated with a core temperature of 10 degrees C compared with 5
degrees C.
PMID: 16904984

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