Cryonics is based on the idea that most body tissue remains alive after legal death (legal death meaning, in practice, stoppage of heartbeat and breathing). The better the body can be preserved, the better the chance that future science can restore the person to full vitality (or better, rejuvenation and enhancement of function beyond anything previously experienced).

The procedures of Suspended Animation, Inc. are intended to optimize preservation of the body. Cryopreservation is best if tissue degradation (ischemic damage) and body decomposition is prevented or minimized, if cooling is begun soon and done rapidly, and if substances that are used to replace body water can eliminate ice formation entirely.

Most people deanimate (are legally pronounced dead) in a hospital or hospice under conditions in which medical professionals are aware that legal death is imminent. If people are waiting by the bedside and prepared to begin cooling, recirculation and artificial respiration immediately upon pronouncement of death, tissue degradation and body decomposition due to ischemic damage can be minimized. This activity of waiting by the bedside of a cryonics patient so as to be able to begin body tissue stabilization procedures immediately upon deanimation is called Standby.

If a person's heart and breathing stops, within ten minutes ischemic damage to brain tissue and blood vessels begins to occur. Within an hour clotting and damage to blood vessels is great enough that normal circulation is no longer possible. If a person has died alone in an apartment, within a few days acidification and bacteria will have liquefied the brain. Within a few weeks bacteria, mold, fungi and perhaps insects will have decomposed the body entirely, leaving some dried connective tissue, teeth and bones.

Fortunately, most cryonics patients have been cryopreserved without having suffered days of decomposition. But only a minority have been cryopreserved under conditions where a Standby team has been able to begin cooling and cardiopulmonary support immediately upon pronouncement of legal death by qualified medical personnel.

Suspended Animation is working to refine the equipment and procedures that may help to minimize tissue damage so that subsequent cryopreservation can be optimized. As the company name suggests, the ultimate goal is whole body vitrification or even "Suspended Animation" through reversible cryopreservation.

The company is led by Saul Kent as CEO. Paramedics and trained standby technicians are on-call on a 24-hour basis to assist in cases.

Suspended Animation has adapted a building for its use in Boynton Beach, Florida -- a project which was completed in June, 2005. The company receives strong financial support from Bill Faloon and Saul Kent of the Life Extension Foundation. These men are committed to ensuring that Suspended Animation is well-equipped and capable of applying cryopreservation procedures based on constantly improving technology. Those who receive Suspended Animation procedures can be regarded as beneficiaries of cryonics state-of-the-art methods. The current protocols to be applied are detailed in Protocol for SA-CI Standby to be Performed for the Cryonics Institute by Suspended Animation.

As with everything associated with cryonics, however, a cost/benefit analysis is difficult when the benefits are so difficult to establish. No one knows if cryonics patients who are cryopreserved under the very best conditions will eventually be reanimated. Possibly those who have been straight-frozen will not be reanimated whereas those who have been vitrified will -- or perhaps both will eventually be revived. How much difference a Suspended Animation Standby team can make to eventual revival is similarly hard to know.

The greatest value of rapid response after pronouncement of death is the protection of blood vessels. Perfusion of cryoprotectant becomes difficult or impossible after blood clotting or other vessel damage has occurred. (For technical details, see Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury in Cryonics.) On the other hand, people who have cremated a potential cryonics patient after a few hours of ischemia have overestimated ischemic damage. Most brain cells can survive many hours of ischemic damage. (For technical details, see BRAIN DAMAGE DUE TO ISCHEMIA/REPERFUSION.)

Although a Suspended Animation Standby with a team of cryopreservation employees is advantageous, volunteer local groups can sometimes also provide some Standby capabilities, as was the case for a Toronto CI patient in the Fall of 2002 (see The First Cryonics Case in Toronto, Canada for details). Robert Ettinger paid his funeral director a $1,000 yearly retainer to train and the funeral director's team was standing-by when his wife Mae deanimated. Friends and family can assist a funeral director through obtaining ice, waiting by the bedside watching vital signs, etc.

Few of us can afford to have a fully-equipped team in close proximity and monitoring our condition on a 24-hour basis for the rest of our lives. We must each make assessments of the amount of cryonics support we are willing or able to pay for. When the uncertainties are great, making such an assessment can be extremely difficult. The information provided on this website is intended to assist such decision-making.

Cryonics Institute
24355 Sorrentino Court
Clinton Township, MI 48035
Phone 1-586-791-5961 Fax 1-586-792-7062