For most of cryonics history (which began in the mid-1960s), all of the cryonics organizations offering cryonics services have been in the United States. An organization has been created in Russia (just northwest of Moscow) and there are plans for another organization in Australia to offer perfusion and storage of cryonics patients within a few years.
CI does not endorse any other cryonics organizations. Nor has CI investigated the accuracy of their claims or the extent of their services or even that they are authorized to provide such service. If you are considering utilizing any of these organizations, you should conduct your own investigation.
| NAME | LOCATION | INCORPORATED | NON-PROFIT ? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcor Life Extension Foundation | Scottsdale, Arizona | 1972 | Yes |
| American Cryonics Society | Cupertino, California | 1969 | Yes |
| Cryonics Institute | Clinton Township, Michigan | 1976 | Yes |
| EUCrio | Braga, Portugal | 2010 | No |
| KrioRus | Alabychevo, Russia | 2005 | No |
| Suspended Animation, Inc | Boynton Beach, Florida | 2002 | No |
| Trans Time, Inc. | San Leandro, California | 1972 | No |
Alcor Life Extension Foundation and the American Cryonics Society (ACS) are organized as 501©3 charitable organizations, whereas the Cryonics Institute (CI) is simply a non-profit corporation. Although Suspended Animation, Inc. (SA) is ostensibly a for-profit company, it is mainly engaged in research and development of cryonics capabilities financed by the principals of the Life Extension Foundation. By 2012 KrioRus had relocated to a facility just outside of Moscow.
Not all cryonics services are offered by all cryonics organizations. Patient administration service is offered by cryonics organizations that sign-up Members who are to be cryopreserved upon legal death and maintain responsibility for those Members while they are Patient's in cryopreservation storage. Perfusion is the replacement of normal body fluid with cryoprotective solutions to reduce or prevent ice formation at cryogenic temperatures.Storage is the storage of a cryonics patient in liquid nitrogen. Standby/Stabilization/Transport involves standing by the bedside of a medically terminal patient destined to be cryopreserved, the application of a heart-lung resuscitator and ice-water cooling as soon as possible after declaration of death, and transport to a perfusion facility while tissues are still being stabilized at low temperature.
The following represents the services CI provides and the services which other organizations say they provide.
| NAME | PATIENT ADMINISTRATION | PERFUSION | STORAGE | STANDBY/TRANSPORT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alcor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ACS | Yes | Yes * | No* | Yes * |
| CI | Yes | Yes | Yes | No * |
| EUCrio | No * | Yes | No | Yes |
| KrioRus | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| SA | No * | No | No | Yes |
| Trans Time | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
*=simplification, see explanation
The American Cryonics Society (ACS) states that it mainly contracts with Suspended Animation, Inc. (SA) for perfusion and standby/stabilization/transport, and contracts with the Cryonics Institute (CI) for storage. ACS also states that it has equipment, contractors and volunteers which are available for use in perfusion and standby in California should the need arise, although this is far less sophisticated and formal than what SA provides. ACS creates and manages individual charitable trusts for its patients. ACS regards these trusts as an important feature of the benefit gained by being an ACS Member.
Cryonics Institute (CI) Members who reside in the continental United States have the option of contracting directly with SA if they desire professional Standby/Stabilization/Transport. In some cases volunteers or paid funeral directors have provided these services to CI Members. SA will keep records of CI Members who have arranged to have SA Standby/Stabilization/Transport, but does not continue any administrative responsibility after the patient has been cryopreserved.
EUCrio states that it will provide Standby, Stabilization and Vitrification perfusion for Members of Alcor, CI or KrioRus living in Europe (European Union plus Norway), but is not affiliated with any of those cryonics organizations.
Cryonics Institute (CI) Patient Details
Cryonics Institute (CI) Statistics Details
Complete List of Alcor Cryopreservations
Alcor Membership Statistics
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The term neuropreservation (or "neuro") generally refers to the practice of cryopreserving only the head rather than the whole body. Keeping the whole head to preserve the brain is convenient for both perfusion and storage (the skull protects the brain). In some cases, however, "neuros" are brain-only. The following represent options various organizations say that they offer.
| NAME | WHOLE BODY | NEURO |
|---|---|---|
| Alcor | Yes | Yes |
| ACS | Yes | No* |
| CI | Yes | No |
| EUCrio | N/A | N/A |
| KrioRus | Yes | Yes |
| SA | N/A | N/A |
| Trans Time | Yes | Yes |
*=simplification, see explanation
Alcor states that its Members have the option of having their whole body cryopreserved or only their head ("neuro") — with different fees applicable to each choice. At the end of April 2008 Alcor said that it had 53 neuro and 28 whole body patients. The Cryonics Institute has a policy against signing-up CI Members for neuropreservation — all CI Members with human cryopreservation arrangments are "whole body". ACS states that it does not have a against neuropreservation, but as long as it only uses CI as its subcontractor for storage it cannot offer neurocrypreservation as an option. KrioRus states that the eleven patients that it had in storage at the end of July 2009 were six whole bodies, four brains and one head. (A "neuro"" is a whole head, not just the brain.) Trans Time has one whole body and two brains. Suspended Animation (SA) is a subcontractor which provides Standby/Stabilization/Transport only to other cryonics organizations, not storage, so the question of storage options with SA is "Not Applicable" (N/A).
Schedule A: Required Costs and Suspension Funding Minimums.
The prices given for the American Cryonics Society (ACS) are intended to reflect comparable service to what Alcor provides. In fact, ACS has a very wide menu of options and prices available, including reference to a "California Procedure" which is intended to be distinguished from the "Michigan Procedure" offered by the Cryonics Institute. The yearly fee for an ACS Member is $376 for the first four years and $300 per year thereafter. For details on ACS options and fees, see: prices and funding.
The Cryonics Institute charges $28,000 for perfusion and storage of an Lifetime Member and $35,000 for a Yearly Member. These prices do not include funeral director costs or shipment to Michigan. (When CI was begun it was imagined that every state would have at least one cryonics service providers.) The Lifetime CI Member has paid a one-time $1,250 fee and the Yearly CI Member has paid a $75 initiation fee and is paying a $120 yearly fee. Discounts for additional family members and underage family members apply only to Lifetime Memberships. For service more comparable to what Alcor provides — including Standby and Transport — a Lifetime Member pays $88,000 and a Yearly Member pays $95,000. For details on CI pricing seeMembership and Details Concerning SA Standby and Transport for CI Members.
For $49,000 KrioRus states that it offers Russians (Europeans?) the option of shipment and storage at the Cryonics Institute in the USA. The Trans Time yearly fee is for "Emergency Responsibility" (responding to a cryonics emergency), not for Membership. The pricing given by Trans Time is not very descriptive. Suspended Animation (SA) is a subcontractor which provides Standby/Stabilization/Transport only to other cryonics organizations, not Membership or storage, so the question of these options with SA is "Not Applicable" (N/A). EUCrio states that it provides Standby/Stabilization and Vitrification/Transport services for European members of other cryonics organizations, without being affiliated with those organizations.
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Human cryopreservation procedures are much too complex to be summarized effectively here, so it is best to direct interested persons to the most relevant web pages on the subject.
Alcor's procedures are summarized on a page of the Alcor website called Alcor Procedures. But is it also very helpful to read actual case reports of Alcor patients in the Cryopreservation Case Reports section of the Alcor website library.
Similarly, the Cryonics Insitute (CI) has a summary of its procedures on its website called Outline of CI Preservation Procedures for Human Patients. But even more than in the case of Alcor, an understanding of the procedures is best gotten by reading case reports in the Case Reports section of the CI site contents page. The best reports to read are the first human vitrification case, which was done in August 2005 (The Cryonics Institute's 69th Patient) and a more recent one (The Cryonics Institute's 84th Patient).
CI procedures do not include Standby and Transport, though CI will advise Members on obtaining assistance through local funeral directors. CI Members residing in the continental United States who wish to obtain Standby and Transport can do so by subcontracting with Suspended Animation, Inc. (SA) as outlined at Suspended Animation Standby for CI Members and described in more detail at General Comments about Suspended Animation Procedures. An outdated summary of SA capabilities and procedures is available at Protocol for SA-CI Standby-Transport. A report of a case done by SA in 2004 gives some idea, although an outdated one, of what the SA protocol means in practice. This report is available on the SA website as a Word Document SA Case Report.
Although the American Cryonics Society (ACS) has equipment and volunteers which could be used if necessary, ACS basically relies on SA for Standby/Stabilization/Transport and CI for Perfusion/Storage. The human cryopreservation procedures of Trans Time and KrioRus are not documented on their websites.
For more details on the policies and procedures of the different cryonics organizations, go to the websites of the organizations in question. Links to websites of all the organizations providing cryonics services are given with the organizations names in the Existing Cryonics Organizations table above.
