Case Summary: A-1277

Alcor member A-1277 was pronounced on Friday, December 9, 2011. A whole body case, A-1277 became Alcor’s 110th patient.

A member in the Yonkers, New York area had been in and out of the ICU at a local hospital for more than two months. Her son, also a member, was the liaison between Alcor and her medical providers. Despite numerous procedures and an encouraging recovery, she suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly succumbed to her illness, arresting at 3:55 AM (MST) and then pronounced. Previous communications with the hospital and a local mortuary prompted immediate heparinization, circulation, ice application and an expedited release from the hospital.

The time needed for a team response was greater than simply initiating an immediate airline shipment. Therefore the patient’s cooling was continued by the mortuary along with packaging and processing of the appropriate paperwork. The patient arrived in Alcor’s surgery suite at 10:13 PM on Friday night at a temperature of 2.6°C. Cryoprotection was ended at 3:02 AM on Saturday December 10, and cooling with liquid nitrogen begun at 3:50 AM. At the time of writing, A-1277 is at -140°C and cooling.