Human "Suspended Animation" Trials To Start This Month

An anonymous reader writes in with news about a UPMC Presbyterian Hospital trial starting this month which brings us one step closer to suspended animation. "The researchers behind it don't want to call it suspended animation, but it's the most conventional way to explain it. The world's first humans trials will start at the UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh, with 10 patients whose injuries would otherwise be fatal to operate on. A team of surgeons will remove the patient's blood, replacing it with a chilled saline solution that would cool the body, slowing down bodily functions and delaying death from blood loss. According to Dr. Samuel Tisherman, talking to New Scientist: 'We are suspending life, but we don't like to call it suspended animation because it sounds like science fiction... we call it emergency preservation and resuscitation.'" We covered this story a few months ago when it was announced.

Re:But hold on...

[Minwee]

Science fiction is cool and full of stuff we'd be excited to see happen. "Emergency preservation and resuscitation" doesn't sound at all interesting.

That's only because you're not the one with an injury which would be fatal to operate on.

If you were, and your alternatives were "Death" or "Tea and cake, then death", then it would sound pretty damn awesome.

Re:Looks Like, Walks Like, Quacks Like

[OzPeter]

Nothing wrong with calling it Suspended Animation if that's EXACTLY what it is.

I think that the problem they are trying to avoid is that most people have a preconceived ideas as to what "Suspended Animation" should be. These people are trying as much as possible to stay away from those preconceived ideas, and hence avoid being ridiculed for not living up to a hundred years of sic-fi hype.

As an analogy, what would happen to a company that after years of design and testing released A FLYING CAR!!!! But play down the fact that this car could only perform vertical flight limited to 6 feet high whilst in your own driveway, solely to facilitate under car maintenance? Sure it flies, and it is useful, but it don't quite meet all those expectations.

Re:I'm not a doctor, but...

[sillybilly]

How about an immune system like white blood cells to keep up the policing? They better cool the patient to just above freezing point, as even then there may be some active bacteria in him/her that will start the putrefaction/decomposition process. The only way to preserve a body is through mummification or formalin solution, or the like, where absolutely all life is fully destroyed, including bacterial cells and human cells. If you could completely clear her body from any fungi and bacteria that live in it in symbiosis, I think she'd die just from that, but if she don't, if she's completely sterile and don't need white blood cells at all, then you got a chance with this saline solution. Every time you fart it's a reminder that bacteria live in you, and without any bacteria or fungi in your body my guess is that you would die really fast, or at least be very vulnerable to nonsymbiotic deadly infection, or at the very least, things like digestion would get worse, as it's aided by the bacteria breeding in your saliva continuing the digestion in your stomach. Even when you go through an antibiotic/antifungal/antiviral regimen, and have to eat biotics like yogurt after the treatment, you don't lose all bacteria, fungi and viruses in your body.