Cryopreservation is a process that preserves, cells, tissues, organelles, and other biological constructs by cooling them at very low temperatures.
Some people have chosen to cryopreserve their bodies so that they can be revived in the future.
How does cryopreservation work?
Once the individual who has signed up for cryopreservation is declared dead, a medical team initiates a procedure to preserve the body. First, they cover the body with ice to cool the body and then employ CPR and oxygen masks to oxygenate the tissues. The cadaver is then placed in a hermetically sealed container and transported to the cryonics facility.
At the facility, the body is placed in a machine that is similar to a heart-lung bypass circulating the blood and ensuring oxygenation. A vitrification solution is pumped into their bodies, ensuring the tissues don't turn into ice crystals acting like an anti-freeze. Vitrification also aims to prevent structural damage to the body.
At -320 ℉, the body is cooled down in a liquid nitrogen vapor chamber. Once the body is cold enough, it is transferred to a Thermos-like tank of liquid nitrogen, where it will remain for a long time.
The institute's endowment is sustained by the patron's fees which are approximately $28,000 per person to ensure that the institute runs indefinitely.
The bodies will be stored in these tanks until future medical technology can revive them
There is absolutely no current way, no proven scientific way, to actually freeze a whole human down to that temperature without completely destroying — and I mean obliterating — the tissue.
Shannon Tessier, Cryobiologist, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital
Challenges that the future technology has to overcome:
Repair the damage done to the body due to freezing
cure the ailment that was responsible for the patient's death
Reverse the aging process of the body so that the patient can have a healthy young body when revived
Alcor Life Extension Foundation:
Alcor Life Extension Foundation, the world's oldest cryonic company operates a state-of-the-art facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. Currently, 224 patients are cryopreserved in this location with an additional 1,418 members signed up to undergo preservation after death.
At this facility, stainless steel tanks filled with liquid nitrogen(-196 degrees Celsius) preserve the bodies of the people who want to wake up in the future.
Matheryn Naovaratpong, a Thai girl who was suffering from brain cancer was the youngest to be cryopreserved at the age of 2 in the year 2015.
References
Golembiewski, Kate. 2022. “Life After Death? Cryonicists Try to Defy Mortality by Freezing Bodies.” Discover Magazine. October 14, 2022. https://www.discovermagazine.com/technology/will-cryonically-frozen-bodies-ever-be-brought-back-to-life.
