4 ms·

The last paragraph seems to suggest that this isn't actually the first time that people have been put into "suspended animation" via extreme cold, rather it is

The last paragraph seems to suggest that this isn't actually the first time that people have been put into "suspended animation" via extreme cold, rather it is the first time it was done in an emergency setting.

gus_massa 7y ago
I think so. More info in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_hypothermic_circulatory_arrest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_hypothermic_circulatory_a...
goodcanadian 7y ago
There have been many cases of people going without oxygen for long periods of time but not suffering brain damage due to the fact that they were in icy water which served to cool their brain. So much so that I believe deliberately cooling the brain has been done in an attempt to reduce brain damage. I think the key difference here is the addition of cold saline solution to the blood stream.
- blotter_paper 7y ago
  From TFA: > One complication of the procedure is that patients’ cells can become damaged as they are warmed up after surgery. Just like holding temperatures in food industry health codes: really cold is okay, and really hot is okay, but you really want to minimise the time spent between extremes. Makes me wonder how fast the brain is deteriorating at 10C, and if there are significantly more problems holding a body for 10 hours as opposed to 10 minutes. For all I know, most of the damage done by this procedure could be in the cooldown and warmup processes (though I'm not making a positive claim).
- JauntTrooper 7y ago
  When I was driving an ambulance in college, they used to say "They're not dead until they're warm and dead." i.e. do CPR until their body temperature rises to normal.
ChuckMcM 7y ago
I'm guessing its a bit marketing and a bit semantics. I am not a doctor and I'm relating this incident third hand, but as explained to me it went like this: A person at our church had a heart attack and essentially died, they were then put into a deep chill / ice bath, then transported to the hospital. At the hospital they received a multiple bypass operation and then were brought up to temperature and out of their induced coma. They recovered and have suffered no ill effects (other than they would because their arteries were clogged). I got the impression that this chilling/induced coma kind of thing was 'new' but no longer experimental.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- leesalminen 7y ago
  We had a very similar situation with my father-in-law earlier this year, unfortunately though, he never did wake up from the induced coma. He died. The biggest takeaway for me was to learn CPR and PRACTICE it every year (through re-certification). My father-in-law went without CPR for ~9 minutes- basically pegging his chance at survival to 0. Who knows what the outcome would've been if someone who knew CPR was present to start immediately. Seriously, get certified and practice CPR techniques. It could save a life one day.
MS90 7y ago
I recall years and years ago, probably sometime in the 1990s, reading about an emergency heart surgery being performed on a young girl. I can't recall the specifics, but what I distinctly remember is the nurses getting bags and bags of ice cubes and burying every part of the girl save for her head and the front of her chest with it. If I recall correctly, they wanted to lower her heart rate as much as possible without actually stopping it.
- chaoticmass 7y ago
  I seem to remember something like this as well.

gus_massa 7y ago

I think so. More info in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_hypothermic_circulatory_arrest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_hypothermic_circulatory_a...

goodcanadian 7y ago

There have been many cases of people going without oxygen for long periods of time but not suffering brain damage due to the fact that they were in icy water which served to cool their brain. So much so that I believe deliberately cooling the brain has been done in an attempt to reduce brain damage. I think the key difference here is the addition of cold saline solution to the blood stream.

blotter_paper 7y ago
From TFA: > One complication of the procedure is that patients’ cells can become damaged as they are warmed up after surgery. Just like holding temperatures in food industry health codes: really cold is okay, and really hot is okay, but you really want to minimise the time spent between extremes. Makes me wonder how fast the brain is deteriorating at 10C, and if there are significantly more problems holding a body for 10 hours as opposed to 10 minutes. For all I know, most of the damage done by this procedure could be in the cooldown and warmup processes (though I'm not making a positive claim).
JauntTrooper 7y ago
When I was driving an ambulance in college, they used to say "They're not dead until they're warm and dead." i.e. do CPR until their body temperature rises to normal.

ChuckMcM 7y ago

I'm guessing its a bit marketing and a bit semantics. I am not a doctor and I'm relating this incident third hand, but as explained to me it went like this: A person at our church had a heart attack and essentially died, they were then put into a deep chill / ice bath, then transported to the hospital. At the hospital they received a multiple bypass operation and then were brought up to temperature and out of their induced coma. They recovered and have suffered no ill effects (other than they would because their arteries were clogged). I got the impression that this chilling/induced coma kind of thing was 'new' but no longer experimental.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
leesalminen 7y ago
We had a very similar situation with my father-in-law earlier this year, unfortunately though, he never did wake up from the induced coma. He died. The biggest takeaway for me was to learn CPR and PRACTICE it every year (through re-certification). My father-in-law went without CPR for ~9 minutes- basically pegging his chance at survival to 0. Who knows what the outcome would've been if someone who knew CPR was present to start immediately. Seriously, get certified and practice CPR techniques. It could save a life one day.

MS90 7y ago

I recall years and years ago, probably sometime in the 1990s, reading about an emergency heart surgery being performed on a young girl. I can't recall the specifics, but what I distinctly remember is the nurses getting bags and bags of ice cubes and burying every part of the girl save for her head and the front of her chest with it. If I recall correctly, they wanted to lower her heart rate as much as possible without actually stopping it.

chaoticmass 7y ago
I seem to remember something like this as well.