What happened with the Worlds first head transplant surgery and should we really do that?!
Today I realized that I didn't hear any news in media what happened with the so much media announced Worlds first head transplant surgery. So I started to google it.
For me, the first word about that was in 2015 whan I watched TED talk "Head Transplantation: The Future Is Now" from Dr.Sergio Canavero
Dr. Canavero is a really interesting speaker that leaves you with the WOW impression. But let's be realistic..In this lecture, there are some statements about nerve regeneration that are still questionable.
So, as you can hear he said (and all media talk about that) 2017 we will have Worlds first head transplant surgery!
Who is Sergio Canavero?
Dr. Canavero is an Italian neurosurgeon who works in the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy and dedicated almost all his life to study human head transplantation. Dr. Canavero believes that impossible is only a way of the mind and that we just have to change perspective in order to make everything attainable. In 2013 he presented project named "HAVEN" (head anastomosis venture) by publishing the protocol would make human head transplantation possible https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3821155/
In June at American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons in Annapolis, Maryland he announced idea about head transplantation. At the same time, he presented volunteered to be the first person to undergo the surgery, Valery Spiridonov, the Russian man suffering from s pinal muscular atrophy.
Source: http://scientifist.com/first-human-head-transplantation/
As you can imagine how many questions other doctors and scientists had for him...
Is it possible to transplant the head?
Well, Dr. Canavero definitely thinks it is... What happens in science till now related to head transplantation.
- Robert White transplanted the head from one monkey https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pggnk7/dr-robert-white-transplanted-first-monkey-head
- Dr. Xiaoping Ren and a team of Chinese researchers managed to exchange the heads of 18 mice. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cns.12341/full
- Canavero and Xiaoping attached the head of a mouse to the body of a rat.
The biggest issue is that all of them lived for few days and stayed paralyzed after surgery. So in my own opinion, which is opposite from Dr. Canavero (with all respect to his work) this is not successful.
How he would do that
About the plan, you can watch
After watching that I said: Yeah, right...He can just try!
So, what happend?
The Telegraph announced: 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.
Yes, on the corps...
Valery Spiridonov suddenly resigned to no longer be the first patient who will undergo surgery because of the doubts and some other factors.
based on the information Dr. Canavaro said surgery is canceled to 2018. And they have a new "first" patient from China.
There is nothing else than wait and see..
Ethical concerns
So many ethical concerns...it should be a special post :)
End what do you think about this? Twilight Zone or something great?
Even if it could be done, is it really a head transplant? Wouldn't it be a body transplant?
Good point
Well yes, good point! What I believe why they point it as head transplant is because of the brain and the fact that it controls our whole body...
Until you wrote about this I'd completely forgotten, but you're right this was the big story of 2017 and competely disappeared. Honestly I don't think they'll be able to reconnect the nerves that are vital to making this procedure work. But we'll see!