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11/17/2015

 

Medical History

PatNum: 67

Male

Birthdate: 11/1/1957

Age: 58

Cause of death: Likely complications due to frontal lobe brain tumor, diabetes, and hypertension.

 

Patient was already signed up with the Cryonics Institute.   He had a terminal brain tumor, but passed away unexpectedly while still fairly asymptomatic.  He was living alone at the time, and the body was not found for a number of days. The coroner refrigerated the body, but did not release it for an additional two days while other next of kin were sought.

 

A discussion with his significant other regarding cryonics revealed that he would have wanted preservation even if there was very low chance of recovering any memories.  We took this case in order to respect his last wishes rather than because the prognosis was reasonable.  The funeral director described the body as being in a state of decomposition.  Because of this and because the patient was obese, it was not possible to ship the entire body to Oregon.  We depended on a local autopsy technician to remove the brain.

 

Funds had been set aside, but the sudden death caused the funds to become tied up in probate for a few months.  We were able to begin diffusion of cryoprotectant while waiting for cryopreservation funding to become available.

 

Timeline

Between 11/15/15 and 11/16/2015- Actual date of death.

11/17/2015 Tuesday - Date found and date of pronouncement.

11/18/2015 Wednesday - Significant other / executor established contact with us.

11/19/2015 Thursday - Released by coroner to funeral home.  Brain removed by an autopsy technician.  Placed in formalin and refrigeration.

12/21/2015 - Arrived in Oregon, placed in formalin and refrigeration.

12/24/2015 - Added 3% glutaraldehyde to formalin.

1/20/2016 - Began ramp with ethylene glycol.

3/24/2016 - Reached 100% of target concentration and began equilibration.

4/26/2016 - Equilibration complete. Moved to -20 deg storage.

8/12/2016 - Finished subzero cooling and transfered to liquid nitrogen.

 

Cryoprotective Ramp

 

Subzero Cooldown

 

Prognosis

It is unlikely that there are any recoverable memories in this brain.