Cryonics Magazine 2021 3rd Quarter

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Alcor Case Metrics 1967-1999 By Michael Benjamin and Aschwin de Wolf

Introduction The Alcor Meta-Analysis Project has three distinct objectives: (1) To organize and enter all case data in a comprehensive database; (2) to visually present and publish the data in a format that allows the reader to see trends and patterns; and (3) to identify correlations between specific elements of a case and outcomes.

cases. We expect this project to increase in comprehensiveness, accuracy, and actionable information. + Note: The color “blue” represents a “good” outcome and the color “red” a sub-optimal outcome / situation

We present here a selection of case data for the years of 19671999. Alcor did not exist yet in 1967 but this year marks the cryopreservation of Dr. James Bedford, who is now in Alcor’s care. This series ends in 1999, which roughly corresponds to the end of the “pre-vitrification” high concentration glycerol era. There are no CT scans available for this period yet. Detailed case data for James Bedford were not available. As a consequence, some metrics cannot be known (like the S-MIX).1 At this stage in the meta-analysis project, we still confine ourselves to presenting factual data and calculated (or estimated) measures. After completing this project for all Alcor cases, we will move to the next step of identifying trends and correlations. The magnitude of the project and sheer quantity of data makes it inevitable that some errors can be introduced in the reporting or interpretation of data. In some cases, detailed data is not available and rough estimates need to be made based on the case data that was available and extrapolation of what we know from other

1 For a detailed exposition of the S-MIX metric, see Cryonics magazine, 4th quarter 2020, page 12: https://www.alcor.org/docs/measuringischemic-exposure.pdf

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Cryonics / 3rd Quarter 2021

www.alcor.org


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