Gunshot Victims Placed in Suspended Animation

by
in science on (#3H2)
Surgeons at the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will try to save the lives of patients with knife or gunshot wounds by placing them in suspended animation , buying time to fix injuries that would otherwise be lethal to them.

The technique involves replacing all of a patient's blood with a cold saline solution, which rapidly cools the body and stops almost all cellular activity. At lower temperatures, cells need less oxygen because all chemical reactions slow down. This explains why people who fall into icy lakes can sometimes be revived more than half an hour after they have stopped breathing.
Reply 5 comments

Good (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-03-28 13:15 (#V6)

Glad to see they are proceeding with this technique. I wonder if this will lower medical costs as well as save more lives.

Re: Good (Score: 2, Interesting)

by rocks@pipedot.org on 2014-03-28 17:11 (#V8)

I wonder if this would ever go mainstream as a kind of mind-body massage/cleansing sort of thing... I wonder how dangerous it is?

Re: Good (Score: 3, Insightful)

by danieldvorkin@pipedot.org on 2014-03-28 17:31 (#VB)

At this point, it's a last-resort, "What the hell, this guy's probably going to die anyway" kind of thing, so not likely to catch on with the crystal-healing crowd. ;) Even if it does eventually become safe enough to be part of the surgical standard of care, I really doubt it's something people will do casually.

Re: Good (Score: 1)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-03-31 12:28 (#WA)

I'd never thought of using it at a day spa! Though given the danger of not waking up and legal waivers involved, I can't see anyone short of Elon Musk at this moment attempting such a venture. On the other had, there are companies out there that make money by offering people the chance to jump off of tall structures or out of planes with various safety devices. I guess it just depends on the individual being willing to take the risk and what kind of experience they are going for.

Just Insane Enough to Work? (Score: 2, Insightful)

by sleazyridr@pipedot.org on 2014-03-28 20:32 (#VH)

As the title implies, replacing all of someone's blood with a saline solution sounds like the kind of thing a Bond villain would do to kill people in a creative way. I keep reading all of these stories about how good revival techniques are becoming. It's a really great time to be alive, and these guys are helping all of us do that for longer.