Freeze to save
Doctors will place patients with gunshot and stab wounds in suspended animation
Alexey Slobodyan, FederalPost
Doctors in the United States will use a futuristic technique in particularly severe cases of knife and gunshot wounds, which, as a rule, end in the death of the patient. This will be done in order to get extra time.
Surgeons at the Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh will cool patients, which will cause their blood cells to need less oxygen. While the human body will be in this state, the team will work trying to fix the "structural problems" caused by a knife or bullet.
The first tests of the new technique are scheduled for the end of this month, according to New Scientist (Gunshot victims to be suspended between life and death).
The procedure, which, as the publication notes, is similar to the one Han Solo underwent in the movie "Star Wars", involves the introduction of a cold saline solution into the circulatory system of patients, that is, their bodies will be quickly cooled to 10 degrees and cellular activity will practically stop.
"We suspend life, but we don't like the term "suspended animation" because it sounds like science fiction," said surgeon Samuel Tisherman. "We call this state emergency preservation."
Peter Rea of the University of Arizona added: "If a patient comes in two hours after death, you can't bring him back to life. But if he is still alive, even if he is in a serious condition, then freezing makes it possible to save his life. It can be "resurrected" after the structural problems are fixed."
It has long been known that cooling the body helps to gain time with a number of serious injuries. At normal temperature, cells need a large supply of oxygen, which means that if the heart stops beating, a person quickly dies. However, if you lower the body temperature, the body consumes less oxygen, which means that doctors have extra time to save the patient.
Previously, body cooling was used during some operations, but the procedure involved ensuring blood circulation through a cooling system. This option is unacceptable in the case of a medical emergency, because it takes too much time to prepare.
As a result, doctors have found a way to cool the body much faster. In 2002, researchers from the University of Michigan tested a new technique on pigs. The animals were sedated, and then they were subjected to massive blood loss and injected with a cold saline solution. After the pigs were cooled to 10 degrees, their wounds were sewn up and the animals were returned to normal temperature again.
The researchers noted that in most cases, the heart of the experimental pigs began to beat independently.
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