VITRIFICATION
One area of cryonics case work that could be substantially improved by applied research and development is the ability to safely lower the patient's body temperature to a stable point well below 0 degrees Celsius during transport to a cryonics facility. This would entail performing cryoprotectant perfusion and vitrification in the field.
Today's Protocol
One of the greatest achievements of privately funded research at Cryovita Laboratories in the mid-1980s was the development of an organ preservation solution which has become known as MHP2.
Variants of this solution were used as a blood substitute in a series of experiments at Cryovita in which dogs were resuscitated successfully after as long as four hours of deep, bloodless hypothermia.
In cryonics cases where legal death occurs at some distance from a cryonics facility, Suspended Animation will typically replace the blood with MHP2 before transporting the patient in a sealed container packed with water ice. In single, organ-based experiments, there is evidence that suggests that MHP2 significantly delays the processes of post-ischemic injury that would normally ensue, but the time limit and conditions for transport may vary from case to case. No one really knows how much brain injury occurs under different circumstances, or how much should be considered tolerable. Although research has begun to evaluate possible replacements for MHP2, it may be some time before conclusive results appear.
Since all chemical reactions take place more slowly at lower temperatures, a patient would be better protected if transport could be performed below the freezing point of water. Currently this is not possible because while MHP2 may provide protection against ischemic injury, it provides no protection from injury associated with freezing. If patients were perfused with cryoprotectant in a remote location, they could then be transported around –135 degrees Celsius, which would greatly reduce the risk of cell damage during this phase of the procedure.
 |
Implementing a protocol that includes vitrification will require overcoming three challenges.
First, properly monitored and controlled perfusion to achieve vitrification must be performed outside of an operating room or laboratory.
Second, rapid cooling to around –135 Celsius must begin immediately and must continue without interruption, to reduce the toxicity of the vitrification solution. Liquid nitrogen vapor has been the preferred method to achieve such cooling. This has never been done outside of a cryonics facility or laboratory.
Third, a specially designed container must be locally available to maintain the patient at the low temperature, within very strict limits, while transport ensues.
SA will perform vitrification procedures, followed by rapid cooling at our facility, and low-temperature ground transport to the patient’s cryonics organization. This scenario will be appropriate where the patient is closer or can be transported to the SA facility more quickly than they can reach their cryonics facility.
