Learn what happens during the cryopreservation process, from initial preparation through long-term care.
At Alcor, we approach this as an urgent intervention aimed at a future where aging and disease may be reversible. Cryopreservation can only begin after legal death is declared. This isn’t a conventional medical treatment, but a bridge to tomorrow’s medical capabilities. Our procedures, refined over five decades, are designed to preserve our patients in the best possible condition for future repair and restoration.
“Cryonics is an experiment. So far the control group isn’t doing very well.”— Dr. Ralph Merkle, Talk about Cryonics
Learn About Deployment & Recovery
Begin by completing your membership application, selecting your cryopreservation plan (neuro or whole body), and arranging funding through life insurance or other approved methods. Membership ensures legal, medical, and logistical readiness for preservation.
After joining, your medical and legal documents are secured. Identification materials are provided, and essential health information is collected to enable rapid, effective response when needed.
When a member is near clinical death, Alcor deploys a specialized standby team to their location. The team sets up equipment and medications to begin stabilization procedures immediately after pronouncement.
Following legal death declaration, cooling and circulatory support begin to slow deterioration. This includes chest compressions, administration of protective medications, and external or internal cooling to reduce body temperature.
Depending on case circumstances and membership choice, surgical procedures may begin in the field or at Alcor’s facility. Major blood vessels are accessed, and the blood is replaced with a cryoprotective (vitrification) solution to protect tissues from ice damage during cooling.
The patient is transported to Alcor’s facility and is cooled to cryogenic temperatures in a controlled, multi-stage process. As temperatures drop below the glass transition point, tissues vitrify – entering a solid, ice-free state that maintains cellular and structural integrity.
Finally, the patient is placed into long-term storage at -196°C in liquid nitrogen. They remain in this stable, vitrified state with continuous monitoring, awaiting future medical technologies that may enable repair and recovery.
As a research organization, Alcor requires formal documentation and quality review of every case. All cases are recorded in a standardized format consistent with regulatory and ethical guidelines, with findings subjected to structured evaluation and continuous improvement processes. This ensures scientific rigor, patient confidentiality, and compliance with professional standards while maintaining operational readiness.
A cryoprotectant is a small molecule that easily penetrates cells and lowers the freezing point of water. Alcor uses an advanced cryoprotectant called M22.
When tissue is slowly cooled, ice first forms between cells. Growing ice crystals draw water out of cells through osmotic dehydration. With cryoprotectants present, the freezing point of the unfrozen solution drops sooner and faster, limiting ice formation. Below −40 °C ice stops growing, and by about −100 °C the highly concentrated solution vitrifies, suspending cells in a glass‑like solid. We refer to this as vitrification.
In cryonics, cryoprotectant solutions are circulated through the patient’s vascular system near 0 °C over several hours, gradually replacing more than half of the water inside cells with cryoprotectant. Living cells can survive this process when introduction and removal are done at low temperatures.
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