Head Transplant (A reality of science)
Head transplant on human
A head transplant is an experimental surgical operation involving the grafting of one organism's head onto the body of another; in many experiments the recipient's head was not removed but in others it has been. Experimentation in animals began in the early 1900s. As of 2018 no durable success had been achieved.
There are three main technical challenges. As with any organ transplant, managing the immune response to avoid transplant rejection is necessary. Also, the brain is highly dependent on continuous flow of blood to provide oxygen and nutrients and remove waste products, with damage setting in quickly at normal temperatures when blood flow is cut off.
Finally, managing the nervous systems in both the body and the head is essential, in several ways. The autonomic nervous system controls essential functions like breathing and the heart beating and is governed largely by the brain stem; if the recipient body's head is removed this can no longer function. Additionally each nerve coming out of the head via the spinal cord needs to be connected to the putatively corresponding nerve in the recipient body's spinal cord in order for the brain to control movement and receive sensory information. Finally, the risk of systematic neuropathic pain is high and as of 2017 had largely been unaddressed in research.
Of these challenges, dealing with blood supply and transplant rejection have been addressed in the field of transplant medicine generally, making transplantation of several types of organs fairly routine; however as of 2017 in a field as common as liver transplantation around a quarter of organs are rejected within the first year and overall mortality is still much higher than the general population. The challenge of grafting the nervous system remained in early stages of research as of 2017.
Valery Spiridonov had volunteered to become the first head transplant patient
Although Russian computer scientist Valery Spiridonov, 33, who suffers spinal muscular atrophy, had volunteered to become the first head transplant patient, the team have since said the first trial is likely to be carried out on someone who is Chinese, because the chance of a Chinese donor body will be higher.
However Prof Canavero said his ultimate goal was to transplant a human brain, and envisaged a future where people could live forever by transplanting their brains into younger bodies, possibly cloned from themselves.
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero said a team had 'realised the first human head transplant'
The world's first human head transplant has allegedly been performed on a corpse in an 18 hour operation which successfully connected the spine, nerves and blood vessels of two people.
The operation was carried out by a team led by Dr Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University, China, who last year successfully grafted a head onto the body of a monkey.
Italian Professor Sergio Canavero, Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, who has been working with the team, said they would 'imminently' move onto a living human who was paralysed from the neck down.
He told The Telegraph that electrical stimulation of the nerves proved the operation on the corpse had been successful, and that the two people had been completely attached.
British experts accused Prof Canavero of 'egotistical pseudoscience' but the neuroscientist said details of the operation would be published in the journal Surgical Neurology International within days. He also announced plans to begin work on the first human brain transplants, which he claimed could lead to 'immortality.'
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