Alcor member A-1088, Dennis Ross, was pronounced legally dead on Sunday October 30, 2011. A neurocryopreservation, Mr. Ross became Alcor’s 108th patient.
Alcor received emergency notification that a member in the St. Petersburg, Florida area had been rushed to the hospital on Friday, October 28th and was diagnosed with a massive intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke due to a ruptured brain aneurysm. Suspended Animation (SA) went to the hospital and began to prepare for a probable cryonics case.
Through medical imaging on October 30, physicians determined the individual’s brain damage was so extensive they declared him brain-dead. After the family decided to withdraw life support, SA performed field stabilization and attempted washout; however their success was limited due to the compromised blood flow of the brain. SA completed a neuroseparation before shipping the anatomical donation on dry ice to Alcor.
SA reports tremendous cooperation from the medical center that was caring for him. Hospital staff facilitated advanced preparations and they were able to transfer Mr. Ross directly from his hospital bed into the SA mobile operating room vehicle where the thoracic surgeon was waiting. This was the first case of open chest and heart cannulation and perfusion performed in the field and within about seven minutes of the patient arriving in the SA vehicle.
It is extremely unfortunate that the patient’s brain perfusion was so compromised by his stroke. Despite the especially bad situation surrounding the cause of clinical death, manual readings indicate a drop of about 10C in 30 minutes
After washout and perfusion, neuroseparation was performed. Under the direction of a consulting cryobiologist, he was cooled slowly to near dry ice temperature using a special protocol and shipped to Alcor. As of Friday November 4, 2011, Mr. Ross is being slowly cooled to liquid nitrogen temperature.
