“When
you stop the machinery of life, that's not when death starts. If you were dead
for a day I would not be able to bring you back. But we're talking about 5 to
15 minutes. If you're cooled straight down, you have a chance.”
Dr.
Peter Rhee, a professor of surgery and chief of trauma, critical care, burns
and emergency surgery at the University of Arizona commenting on the emergency
preservation and resuscitation Trials at the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Journeys
to the far outer reaches of the Galaxy may soon be possible.
This
thanks to an ongoing experiment into Suspended Animation that started in May
2014 as reported in “Suspended-animation
trials to begin on humans”, published May 25, 2014 9:24 PM PDT by Michelle
Starr, CNET News and “World’s
first human trial of ‘suspended animation’ to get underway”, published MAY
27, 2014 2:50PM by Network Writer, News Corps
Australia Network.
The
Researchers involved in this unique and very historic study at the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center) Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are Lead Surgeon Dr
Samuel Tisherman and Dr Patrick Kochanek, which began in the month of May 2014
looking for 10 suitable patients upon which to conduct their experiments.
In
fact, it might explain the shortage of Saline Jamaica experienced a month later
in June 2014 as most likely every hospital began experimenting with this technique
“IV Fluid
Crisis - 'People Are Going To Die' As Hospitals Face Shortage”, Published
Tuesday June 10, 2014, by Edmond Campbell, Senoir Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.
That
issue was later resolved by Monday June 16th 2014 when Food for the
Poor donated 16,000 units IV Fluids, specifically Normal Saline, Dextrose and
Lactated Ringers as stated in “Food
for the Poor to donate IV fluids to Heath Ministry”, published Sunday, June
15, 2014 10:09 AM, The Jamaica Observer and “'Fluid
for the Poor'”, published Monday, June 16, 2014, The Jamaica Observer.
Two
weeks later by Monday June 30th 2014, the NHF was able to procure
120,000 units of IV Fluids, among those units of course being normal Saline as
noted in by the Horse’s mouth in the article “Shipment of IV Fluid To
Arrive This Week”, published June 30, 2014 By Marlon Tingling, The Jamaica Information Service.
Technically
speaking it isn't the same as Sigourney Weaver going into Suspended Animation
from the movie Aliens. Rather, this trial it’s the start of an Emergency Trail
for a technique called EPR-CAT
(Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation for Cardiac Arrest From Trauma) or
EPR
(Emergency Preservation and Resuscitation) for short.
EPR-CAT
is based on 20 years of Research conducted by Dr. Peter Rhee, a professor of
surgery and chief of trauma, critical care, burns and emergency surgery at the
University of Arizona and the research is supported by the Department of
Defense.
But
aside from its obvious significance to improving the Survival of persons
suffering from Severe Trauma and surgical operations where the patient’s
survival decreases with the loss of Blood, the Sci-Fi option is obvious. This
as EPR-CAT may mark the beginning of research into Suspended Animation for the
purpose of travelling to Distant Stars and exoplanets in the Milky Way Galaxy,
the main reason why this article caught my eye.
Emergency Preservation
and Resuscitation – Years of Anecdotal Observations of Supercool Blood
Also,
in most ER (Emergency Rooms) around the world, especially if they have water
and ice on hand, Doctors may choose to lower body temperature using ice packs
and even passing Blood through an external Heat Exchanger. This technique is
very similar to Dr. Rhee's idea, except it requires proper planning and must be
done within the first 7 minutes of cardiac arrest i.e. the patient’s Heart
stopping.
If
the Heart has stopped beating due to extreme Blood loss, the Doctors have mere
minutes to stop bleeding and restart the Heart. With that level of Blood loss,
a Blood transfusion is necessary with matching Blood. This may be difficult to
source, especially if the persons has the very rare Type O Negative (–), which
albeit being the Universal Donor, can only take Blood from another persons with
Type O Negative (–).
Using
synthetic Blood isn't an option as yet, despite the progress of the Scottish
National Blood Transfusion Service in making
artificial Type O Negative (–) Blood as described in my blog article
entitled “Scottish
National Blood Transfusion Service develops artificial Type O Negative Blood -
Stem Cell Cloning of Type O Negative Blood for Cheaper Transfusions in 2016”.
Plus the act of resuscitation exposes the body to oxygen, to which body can
react by releasing chemicals that may result in death from Blood infusion
injuries and wounds that may have become septic.
Dr. Peter Rhee and
Suspended Animation – One small Step for Pig-kind back in 2000
He's
been playing God for quite awhile, mainly with Pigs back in 2000. Please note Pigs
and not the Guinea kind, as their Hearts are too small.
His
research was prompted mainly by reports from Medics in Vietnam who noticed that
patients likelihood of survival decreased with the amount of Blood in the first
5 to 20 minutes after a severe injury i.e. grenade explosion or being hit with
a large round that cause massive loss of Blood as stated in the article “Surgeons
to Put Gunshot Victims Into Suspended Animation”, Published April 2, 2014
by Robin Marantz Henig, National
Geographic.
Also,
part of the inspiration for Dr. Peter Rhee's research came from anecdotal
accounts of people surviving for hours in frigid water, usually after having
fallen through thin ice into a lake.
This
common thread of cold, near freezing water made Dr. Rhee realize that if a
solution could be developed to cool the body down the same temperature of
frigid water, around 10ºC (50ºF), without crystal damage, he could prolong a person’s
life by placing them in a state of Suspended Animation. This would allow
emergency surgery to commence on their lifeless body to repair tissue damage
and do surgical operations.
Saline
was chosen as at 10ºC (50ºF), it still a liquid and doesn’t form harmful
crystals that can damage living cell tissues. Additionally, Saline is commonly
used with patients to stabilize them after they've experienced trauma and has
no ill effects on the patient.
What
Dr. Peter Rhee basically did next was to simulate such an injury with these Pigs.
Then he replaced their Blood with cooled Saline at about 10ºC (50ºF), the same
temperature as very cold Tap water. This slowly cools down the Heart and brain
first to avoid brain damage. Then as Saline circulates through the rest of the Pigs
body, their body soon falls to this super-cooled state. At which point the Pig
will have no Blood and basically be dead for anywhere from 1 hour to four hours
(1-4hrs).
Dr.
Peter Rhee then resuscitated the Pigs by reinfusion their body with their own Blood
and slowly warming them up to room temperature, jump starting the Pigs Heart in
some cases. Amazingly, the Pigs returned to full functionality with no brain
impairment or loss of cognitive or physical function or displaying any limitations
in movement whatsoever.
Dr.
Rhee’s Emergency
Preservation and Resuscitation is historic, folks, as if you read what
happened here carefully, you'd realized that these Pigs in his experiment were
basically dead for four hours and then brought back to life in 2 hours.
This
means that the definition of being dead now has to be redefined, as technically
speaking, persons declared dead can now be saved by this technique, to quote Dr.
Peter Rhee: “After we did those experiments, the definition of 'dead' changed.
Every day at work I declare people dead. They have no signs of life, no Heartbeat,
no brain activity. I sign a piece of paper knowing in my Heart that they are
not actually dead. I could, right then and there, suspend them. But I have to
put them in a body bag. It's frustrating to know there's a solution”.
Please
note that this has to be done within the first five to fifteen (5 to15) minutes
of Cardiac Arrest for the patient to have any chance of Survival, effectively
bringing them back from the Dead, so to speak! So you can see the reason for
the excitement over Human Trials for EPR-CAT, which might be expanded to the
University of Maryland.
Emergency Preservation
and Resuscitation – Surgeons buy time to save Lives and Brain Cells
Now
on to the Human Trials!
In
the Human Trials led by Dr Samuel Tisherman, when a patient with one with
cardiac arrest due to penetrating wounds and significant Blood loss i.e. dead
on arrival due to gunshot or knife stabbings, is rolled into the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the next of kin are advised of the options they have.
This
may sometimes be a problem, as many times the next-of-kin or spouse with the
rights to make decisions on the persons behalf may not be nearby. The options
in this case are to put out the word via Traditional and Social Media for
members of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend Town Hall Community meetings.
There the doctors can explain the new procedure and get volunteers to wear
bracelets in case they get shot as stated in “Suspended
Animation? Docs Try Stopping Clock to Save Lives” published May 25 2014 BY
LINDA CARROLL, NBC News, albeit this has
proven to be largely unsuccessful.
Ultimately,
the final word rests with the USFDA (Food and Drug Administration) giving
go-ahead to waive informed consent in the case of a life-threatening emergency.
This is a situation similar to USFDA “compassionate use” regulation as it
relates to Experimental untried and untested experimental Drugs.
Such
was the case of the use of ZMapp, developed by biotech firm Mapp
Biopharmaceutical Inc that was administered to American missionary worker for
Samaritan’s Purse Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, saving their lives as explained
in my blog
article entitled “Jamaica's
Ebola Risk - How a ZMapp cured Americans of Ebola as Jamaica can become Guinea Pig
to Test an Ebola Cure”.
These
first five to fifteen (5 to15) minutes of Cardiac Arrest are crucial, as the
next-of-kin or spouse with the rights to make decisions on the persons behalf
may not be nearby. If close, they have to make the call so that the FDA will
have an easier time approving the EPR-CAT, saving some 2 million Brain Cells
per minute from dying!
EPR-CAT - How the Procedure works as Aliens meet
Flatliners to enable Suspended Animation
One
of these options are utilized and informed consent is waived, Dr Samuel
Tisherman can go ahead and begin the use of EPR-CAT on the patient as describe
in “Gunshot
victims to be suspended between life and death”, published 26 March 2014 by
Helen Thomson, New Scientist.
After
standard open-chest manual manipulation to restart the Heart fails as close
chest CPR doesn’t work on some who's lost a lot of Blood. The team then goes
ahead with EPR-CAT with procedure beginning by opening up the chest cavity and
clamping the lower rejoin of the Heart, Then the surgical team will thread a
large Catheter into the Aorta or main Heart Artery and the Blood is infused with
10ºC (50ºF) Saline.
The
rest of the Blood is removed from the body, leaving it without Blood as
breathing and Heart pulse basically stop. Why this is so isn't quite clear, as
pure Saline has no dissolved oxygen in it. Possibly the fact that the water
contain NaCl(aq) takes it transmit heat better as via circulation of
the 10ºC (50ºF) Saline through the body, it's rapidly removing heat from every
part of the body that receives Blood, effectively putting the body in a
so-called state of Suspended Animation for up to 4 hours.
At
this point, no Blood is in the patient, only Saline, something Jehovah's
Witnesses can rejoice about, as if the patient bleeds, it’ll be mainly Saline.
This makes transfusion a simple matter of using more Saline.
During
this time, the surgeons can get control of any bleeding by repairing major
injuries such as arteries, muscle and tissue at the entry point of the bullet
or knife. EPR-CAT reduces the need to use Blood Transfusions and has the nice
side effect of saving the hospital on the use of Blood that can be utilized for
other lifesaving procedures.
Because
this can be done for up to 4 hours and then revive the patient, it opens up the
possibility of its application of other types of Surgery and may one day
eliminate the need to even use Blood Transfusion in surgery altogether. When
the surgeons have made all the repairs that they can, they then re-infuse the
patient’s own Blood, which has also been chilled slightly above 10ºC (50ºF).
The
patient is slowly warmed up back to their regular body temperature of 32ºC
(89.6ºF), a process that can take up to two hours. At that point their Heart
should automatically starts beating, otherwise they may have to artificially
restart their Heart electrically using EPR (Electro-Pulmonary Resuscitation).
The
patient will reawaken and like the Pigs in Dr. Peter Rhee’s experiment return
to full functionality with no brain impairment or loss of cognitive or physical
function or displaying any limitations in movement whatsoever.
So
will this research lead to its usage in Space Travel to distant exoplanets that
support life as envisaged in my blog article
entitled “Dr.
Robert Wittenmyer Team discovers Gliese 832 c – Supersize my Exoplanet Please
with a Serving of Super-Venus”? That’s what’s got me excited, as like
Sigourney Weaver, I dream of going asleep and awakening in a few years in a New
Star System, preferably one free of Aliens with Acid for Blood.
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