In an astonishing experiment, scientists at the Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research have succeeded in bringing dogs back to life that have been clinically dead for over three hours.
The technique involves draining the subjects veins of blood, and replacing it with saline solution, a few degrees above zero - inducing a state of hypothermia on the body before death. The subject is then revived by replacing the blood.
Tests have shown that the dogs have no brain damage after this procedure. Trials are hoped to begin on humans within years.
I mean, you could bring back someone with horrific injuries and theyd be alive beyond what was naturally possible... its just plain strange, and I'm a bit apprehensive about it
This may be an amazing new procedure, but it's a far cry from resurrection or creating zombies. I'm amazed that the source is being so silly about it, and I'd hope anyone who'd said they were apprehensive about it was kidding. We're not talking about dead creatures returning to life, we're talking about a live creature preserved and revived later. Yes, clinical death is induced, but that's hardly as impressive. This is no more frightening than defibrilators, but certainly has the potential to be as great an invention.
If we can get it to the human level, and it works, in theory, if there was a medical procedure that had a 95% death rate, but those that survived were fine, they could use this to make the person clinically dead, do the operation, and then bring the person back to life. It would atleast increase the chances of living through something like this or possibly get it to so you have nearly a 100% survival rate.
I wonder if you could fix blood problems with this, like a blood parasite... of course you would probably have to replace the blood instead of putting their own back in again.
this is really kinda pointless IMO. The dogs had to die of hypothermia in order for this to work (unless i read that wrong) So this technique is completely useless unless a human dies from hypothermia even then it probably wouldn't revive a human seeing as human veins differ greatly from a dogs. Another thing "Trials are hoped to begin on humans within years" trials?? is that like an AOL free trial? how would that work? A human has to decide to be a guinea pig for this i just don't get it.
The saline solution, which is just above freezing, induces the hypothermia. They didn't have to "die" of it before hand...
The point of this technology is thus:
You have a patient that is fatally wounded, so multiple gunshot wonds to the torso. Under conventional treatment, there is no way for the victim to survive the surgery needed to repair the damaged organs.
The docs hook the person up to this machine, drain out all of the person's blood, and replace it with chilled saline. The person then "dies" of hypothermia.
The surgons then repair the damaged organs, pumps the warmed blood back in, and shocks the person back to life.
You might ask why the blood has to be drained out. Why not just chill the person under more conventional means?
Good quesition!
It's because the body does not cool evenly if you are simply submerging the body in say ice water. The extremities chill first, and eventually the core cools. But it takes a long while for the core to chill down to the temperature required for cells to survive in cold-induced stasis. Long before the core cools enough the cells there die from oxygen starvation.
This technology drains and replaces the blood with saline before the cells can die off. Once in this cold-induced stasis the cells can survive for a while. A great deal longer than they would wihtout being chilled at any rate. Theoretically, they could last indefinatly under ideal conditions (that's the holy grain of cryogenics).
The next step of this technology would be replacing the blood with not saline, but a saline-like antifreeze. That would allow the body to be chilled past just above freezing and actually freeze the body.
I remember years ago when I was real young visiting my aunt at work she did kidny dialsys where the blood was basically removed and clean in a circular pattern. And I always thought to myself if it was possible to remove all the blood at once scrub it of disease and reinsert it. Think those with aids or other diseases could have new chances with procedures like this.
It is almost as if science fiction is coming true. If you look back to many of the science fiction movies and stories the biggest problem for us for interstellar travel is the distance away for sub-light speed craft that we have now. This could also be a way for us to reach out to other stars. (BTW I'm being dead serious about this).
Of course as a medical tool it would also be very useful.
Or is anyone else getting quite blown away by this "quickening of technology". I mean a couple years back, I was laughing at how we were supposed to be living like the Jetsons and nothing has changed.
But these last couple days of reading the news and hearing the latest in technology that is coming out over the last month, I am quite optimistic about these next couple years. I think humans will be living off this planet within this next decade. O_O
I am not a doctor so I can not explain the reason well. Before having an operation the doctor told me not to eat for 24 hours, because during digestion, some toxic blood is contained in the digestive system. During massive blood loss this toxic blood is passed to the body through internal osmosis (passing through the skin) and the toxins are passed to the body causing harm and possible death.
Now if someone gets shot, there is no garantee they did not eat anything in the last 24 hours so I can see some uses to this procedure. Either pump them with fluids until they explode and overbleed or suck all the blood out and freeze. Curious to know how they determined the mental capacity of the doggies did not deteriorate. Sit, Stand, Roll?
Well, given that the process of 'death' in a scientific view is hardly understood at all, it's hard to say what the result of this would be.
There are two schools of thought in merely the operation of the brain in the most basic sense - the first holds that the brain produces the electromagnetic field that surrounds it, as a side effect of the operation of the brain, the second holds that it is the electromagnetic field that manipulates the organic matter of the brain. Neither side can claim victory. I mention this as clinical death involves a cessation of heart beat, brain waves, and breathing. Is this truly death, or merely death-like? We don't know.
The point to this rambling overview is that it is impossible to know what the true effect of this technique is.
The part about 'human trials' makes me nervous, as I wonder what kind of fool would willingly undergo such a thing as anything but a last resort.
In regards to using it in surgery...it's iffy - the saline solution would be just as likely to leak out as blood really, although with the heart stopped it would be under no pressure to do so.
Dialysis is already used by people with poor kidney function - this involves pumping the blood out of the body, through a series of filters, and back in again.
In addition, I myself have recieved three full body blood transfusions in my time.
I guess what I'm saying is that on a scientific level, I'm undecided about the technology. On a spiritual level, I'm more concerned with what else may occur.
I acctually heard the main reason they make you now eat, is so you have no poo in your digestive track, so it does not make the doctors sick when operating. maby he was just telling a tale to get you not to eat? i could be wrong though
