Man’s Best Friend Lives On

by Alice Hewitt

Walt Disney Pictures released Frankenweenie on Oct. 5.

The film, directed by Tim Burton, tells the tale of a young Victor Frankenstein whose dog Sparky dies in a car accident. A determined scientist at heart, Victor builds a secret lab in the attic to try and bring his four legged best friend back to life. The experiment is a success and soon Sparky is alive and wagging his tail once again.

It turns out Burton’s idea may not be too far off the mark. The University of Pittsburgh’s Safar Center for Resuscitation Research has been working on that idea already to benefit injured troops at war until they can be taken to a medical facility for treatment.

The heart is a natural pump which needs a certain amount of blood to help it function. Exsanguination, which means “to bleed” causes the blood level to drop and after a certain point, the heart cannot function.

The Safar Center’s research involves draining the subject, in this case a canine, in a controlled environment to a point where the heart is considered clinically dead. After this step the body is cooled down until the body temperature is below normal.

After a period of time has passed, the canine is subjected to extracorpeal resuscitation, meaning the body is heated from the outside which gradually brings the body temperature safely back to normal.

According to the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of critical care medicine website, these trials have proven EPR can work successfully for 2-3 hours.

Animal testing has always been a complicated issue with many standing against it.

Tim West, 35, said he could not imagine a home without a canine companion. He said he hopes the centre can find more humane ways to test their research in the future other than using dogs as test subjects.

“I am deeply against it. I understand from a medical view point that this is needed, but there are other ways to go about this, including human testing, if people want to be the subject,” said West. “I love my dog, and dogs in general, even shih-tzus to an extent, but I couldn’t fathom doing this to any of them.”

West was also concerned with the treatment of the canines which didn’t survive the procedure.

“Furthermore, I would like to know what they’re doing with the dogs that didn’t make it, other than saying, ‘They died for science.’ I would hope they are properly taken care of afterwards with some dignity. The same goes for the dogs that have made it, but have brain damage.”

Sgt. Rich Sharpe was an ambulance driver in Afghanistan with the Windsor Regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces. He said the idea sounds very futuristic but thinks it would not only benefit military medics but civilian health care workers as well.

“Speaking from experience, catering to the wounded in the field is a risky job. Sometimes casualties cannot be evacuated either by ground, or the air, until contact with the enemy has been suppressed. If it’s not safe to do so, the casualties have to be removed from harm’s way and cared for out of the fire fight,” Sharpe said.

“This would take soldiers out of the fight. Evacuating casualties under contact, which I have done, brings risks to the medics, ambulances and medevac helicopters. If something like this can be done with the guarantee it will not actually make the casualty expire, this enables us to remove them from harm’s way, have less resources to care for them, and win the fire fight. When it is safe, or safer, to do so, then evacuate them either by ground or air.”

Sharpe also said the Canadian Forces have been very expedient in removing casualties in very little time.

“I lucked out and the calls I were on where I had to evacuate casualties, the situation wasn’t that bad,” said Sharpe. “But I have read many stories where casualties had to wait quite some time, but somehow they managed to hold on until they were evacuated. Some made it, some didn’t.”

“In a nut shell,” said Sharpe. “If it works, then it’s a huge step in medical science and could really be a, perhaps, last resort for military medics in the field.”