Page 1 of 1

ECMO as last will

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 6:55 am
by PCmorphy72
Yesterday Dr. Sparks wrote “nobody on staff who realizes that they could cannulate quickly. Maybe I bypassed too many steps with my usual "connectome", but I thought of some ECMO into his vehicle, even for the patients who would desire to be moved from a possible hospital intensive care unit to his patient room. It could require specialized/licensed personnel, although I think it’s easier for a clinician to learn a completely different cannulation technique rather than to learnig to fly small planes.

About 1 year ago, I started a topic on New Cryonet (a yahoo group where e.g. jordansparks0 is a member) about using a normal ECMO but taking advantage of the legal, infrastructural and technological level of diffusion available to organ donors.

Dr. Darwin reply was essentially that I seemed to be “under the mistaken impression that medicine is a laissez faire enterprise”. Being rude is his normal behavior, but I’m proud of that 11 page response (I link this way because it seems you can’t find it in that group although I have it in my yahoo mail). Anyway, in our last conversation he shown me overwhelming knowledge in both clinical and research field.

Today I’ve realized that months later he resumed the issue of how the "progresses" of transplanting techniques are so overwhelming compared to cryonics. In particular, near the end he states: “My goal was to meet the specified legal requirements while preserving the brain in the best possible condition.

Realism is useful of course, but optimism is useful to fight the frustrating powerlessness of being one in a billion who gets the essence of preservation.

Re: ECMO as last will

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:50 pm
by jordansparks
I've ignored New Cryonet for a long time because they have no new information to offer me. This forum also has no new information to offer me, but it is one way to provide clarity about what I'm doing. I have no intention of reading Mr. (not Dr.) Darwin's 11 page response. While his medical knowledge is extensive, cryonics is not medicine because the patient is dead and the physiology is drastically abnormal. His knowledge is irrelevant and is applied to the wrong problem. His goal of adapting transplantation techniques to cryonics has been going on for roughly 50 years, and it's a complete failure. He's trying to preserve viability, which is an impossible goal in these brains. The biochemistry and circulation are in bad shape. Instead of chasing that impossible goal, the real goal is preserving structure. Once you have the right goal, you quickly realize that it has nothing to do with medicine. You must halt mitochondrial activity immediately, as it's causing all sorts of additional damage. You must then start locking molecules in place to prevent ultrastructural degradation. This is not medicine. This is preservation.

Re: ECMO as last will

Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 7:09 pm
by jordansparks
No, it's not easier for a clinician to learn a different cannulation technique than to learn to fly a small plane. It only takes 10 to 20 hours of flying before you are allowed to solo. From there you have additional skills you could learn and you also have to do it regularly to maintain proficiency. With the cannulation, it's just one little part of a larger set of procedures, all of which need to be understood and maintained with regular practice. Alcor surgical staff hired for one case at a time can't get enough regular practice on this set of skills. I guess I answered my own question. That's the exact reason why Alcor is still promoting the use of an ice bath even though a superior option exists. They don't have a choice. They have no clinician with that skill.