Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
The first-ever human head transplant operation could take place in less than three years time, according to bold claims made by one prominent Italian surgeon earlier this week.
According to CNET, Sergio Canavero, director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group (TANG) in Italy, believes that he had found a way to successfully remove a person’s head from his or her existing (presumably failing) body and attach it to a healthier, fully-functioning one.
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The core concept is not new, the website points out. In the 1950s, a Russian transplant pioneer named Vladimir Demikhov successfully transplanted the head of one dog onto the bodies of others, even going so far as to create a two-headed canine. Then in 1970, Dr. Robert White took the head of one monkey and transplanted it onto the body of another primate.
Dr. C be like:
While both experiments led to new advances in medical transplant techniques, the patients did not survive for long (Dr. White’s monkey died nine days later due to transplant immunorejection, according to CNET). However, Canavero believes that he has come up with a new method that will overcome the issues that his predecessors were forced to deal with.
Canavero, who has published a paper outlining his technique in the journal Surgical Neurology International and will discuss his plans at the 39th annual conference of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons (AANOS) in June, told New Scientist that science is “now at a point when the technical aspects” of such a procedure “are all feasible.”
He plans to begin by cooling both the transplant head and the donor body in order to slow cell death, then cutting the neck of both and linking all of the major blood vessels with tubes. After that, CNET explained, he plans to sever the spinal cords with as clean a cut as is possible.
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The recipient’s head would then be moved onto the donor body, and the two ends of the spinal cord would be fused together. Canavero said that this process is essential to the success of the operation, and to accomplish it, he plans to use a chemical known as polyethylene glycol to flush the area and encourage the fat contained within cellular membraines to mesh.
Afterwards, the muscles and blood supply would be sutured, and the recipient would be placed in a coma to prevent movement for a period of three to four weeks. Electrodes would be implanted to electrically stimulate the spinal cord, a process which can strengthen nerve connections. When the patient wakes up, Canavero believes they would be able to move and feel their face.
It gets weirder
The surgeon also believes that the individual would speak with the same voice, and that physical therapy would allow the patient to walk within one year’s time. The technique has not yet been tested, but Canavero plans to experiment on bread-dead organ donors, and one Chinese colleague (Xiao-Ping Ren of Harbin Medical University) intends to test the technique using lab mice.
Should polyethylene glycol fail, Canavero could turn to other options, including injecting stem cells or self-regenerating olfactory ensheathing cells into the spinal cord, New Scientist said. He could use stomach membranes to create a bridge over the spinal gap, as similar procedures have shown promise in helping people regain their mobility after spinal cord injuries.
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Regarding the potential ethical considerations of such a procedure, Dr. Canavero said that they were the reason he first brought it up in 2013. He said he wanted “to get people talking about it. If society doesn’t want it, I won’t do it. But if people don’t want it in the US or Europe, that doesn’t mean it won’t be done somewhere else. I’m trying to go about this the right way, but before going to the moon, you want to make sure people will follow you.”
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