forum.oregoncryo.com

Removing a brain from a skull is rather difficult to do without damage. It's a problem that nobody else cares about. Scientists doing research don't care if they cause some damage because they can just use the undamaged tissue. A pathologist performing an autopsy doesn't care if they cause damage either. So I've been thinking for years about this issue. The usual tool that's used is an oscillating saw, but that generally results in a shallow cut into the brain tissue all the way around. We tried a rotary cutter with a custom foot. That doesn't work because the interior of the skull is too irregular and is thick in areas. We tried a round (spherical) bur, and I think that will work. Because the fulcrum is the palm instead of the shoulder, there's much less risk of pushing through suddenly. Also, the round bur causes a penetration long before it's able to slip through the opening.

I had an idea this weekend to use the CT Scan to create cutting instructions for a robotic arm. That will work someday, but it could take a while. I got very discouraged thinking about all the complex steps involved. In the meantime, I think we can gradually get closer by taking the CT scan and using it to obtain a series of skull thickness numbers all the way around. Then, we could mark the skull with these depths. Finally, we need some sort of depth stopper on the bur to provide 100% safety. So we would know how deep to go and we would also be guaranteed to go exactly that deep. We just have to improve the tooling and the process. The robotic arm can wait, but it will be so cool when we start working on that.

The robotic surgery was a total pipe dream, of course. But today we performed our first atraumatic brain extraction. No cuts and no overhandling. Our procedure and skills are getting better and better. It's not perfected yet, but it should be after a few dozen more cases. This was the first time that I wasn't cringing about the damage. I wouldn't have minded at all this being done to my brain. So we're on a very good trajectory.

If anyone is curious what the improvement was, we finally learned how to only cut halfway through the skull and then use an osteotome to crack the inner table of bone. Additionally, we worked from both the front and the back, allowing much better access than just from the front. We also made a lot of progress with the perfusion procedure today. It was a good day.

Congratulations Jordan and OBP Team!

Our thanatopractician use analog technique for brain extraction. I say this from memory; cut the cranium on top, then cut the cranium in back side. Cut part of the vertebrae.
Then with carefully cut the cranial nerves and optic nerves. Avoiding brain damage. I think is good idea a possible interchange of notes by email with our cryonic thanatopractor and you for mutual help.

Regards