The term transporter suspension refers to the act of using the pattern buffers of a transporter as a means of keeping an individual or individuals in stasis. Captain Montgomery Scott was the first person to demonstrate the feasibility of such a procedure while on board the USS Jenolan. Following the Jenolan's crash-landing on a Dyson sphere, Scott, with the help of Matt Franklin, was able to store his pattern in the buffer for 75 years. This was achieved by disabling the rematerialization subroutine, connecting the phase inducers to the emitter array, bypassing the override, and locking the buffer into a continuous diagnostic cycle. Although Captain Scott's pattern suffered less than 0.003% degradation, and was successfully recovered by Geordi La Forge of the USS Enterprise-D in 2369, Franklin was irretrievable, as one of the inducers had failed, causing a 53% degradation in his pattern. (TNG: "Relics")

A similar method of transporter suspension was employed by Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager in an effort to hide a group of telepathic refugees from Devore authorities. However, this process produced serious complications. Acute cellular degradation was found in many of the suspended individuals, due to the fact that Voyager's telepathic guests and crew had to utilize the system of transporter suspension repeatedly over the course of several weeks.

Although The Doctor was able to treat them, the degradation was cumulative. Had the process continued, the affected individuals may not have survived any further transports. (VOY: "Counterpoint")