Cryostasis Unit

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Two Star Fleet officer awaken in cryostasis units.

A cryostasis unit (also called a stasis chamber, stasis tube, refridgeration unit, etc) is a coffin-shaped device used to preserve life in critically-injured or terminally-ill patients until their conditions can be stabilized in a fully-equipped medical facility. The stasis unit suspends all cellular activity and disease processes, keeping the patient from succumbing to their illness or injury for an indefinite period. The device is not meant for saving a dead patient. Time is required to get the ailing patient into the unit before they succumb, presumably so that more time is available as they come out of stasis to effect proper treatment.

Stasis units are standard equipment aboard Star Fleet starships, especially in the morgue where they preserve dead body's until they can be returned to their families.

Cryonics

Cryonics is a process where a humanoid body is preserved by cooling to low sub-zero temperatures, typically −196 °C (the boiling point of liquid nitrogen). At these low temperatures, any biological activity, including the biochemical reactions that would lead to cell death, is effectively stopped. However, when cryoprotectants are not used, the cells being preserved are often damaged due to freezing during the approach to low temperatures or warming to room temperature. When untreated tissue is slowly cooled below the freezing point of water, ice forms between cells, causing mechanical and chemical damage. Cryoprotectant solutions are circulated through blood vessels to remove and replace water inside cells with chemicals that prevent freezing. The cryoprotectants act like antifreeze: they lower the freezing temperature. They also increase the viscosity. Instead of crystallizing, the syrupy solution turns into an amorphous ice.