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It may sound like something from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, but the possibility of the world's first human head transplant is very real. In December 2017, Italian neuroscientist Dr. Sergio Canavero plans to perform the procedure alongside a team of Chinese surgeons, led by Dr. Xiaoping Ren - who to date, has performed around 1,000 head transplants on mice.
The procedure - named HEAVEN-GEMINI - will take around 150 surgeons and nurses approximately 36 hours to complete and will cost around $11 million.
Dr. Canavero, of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group (TANG) in Italy, first announced his proposal for the HEAVEN-GEMINI project back in July 2013.
Unsurprisingly, his proposal has been met with much criticism, with some scientists branding Dr. Canavero as "nuts."
However, Dr. Canavero is not the first surgeon to delve into the world of head transplants. In 1970, the late American neurosurgeon Dr. Robert White was the first to transplant a monkey's head onto another monkey's body.
While the recipient monkey had the ability to see, hear, taste and smell following the procedure, lack of sufficient technology meant the animal's spinal cord nerves were not properly fused to its head, leaving it paralyzed. In addition, the animal's immune system rejected the donor head, causing it to die 9 days later.
While Dr. Canavero admits that spinal cord fusion (SCF) and the possibility of head rejection are still key challenges for the HEAVEN-GEMINI project, he claims that recent animal studies indicate they can be overcome.
"The greatest technical hurdle to such endeavor is of course the reconnection of the donor's and recipient's spinal cords. It is my contention that the technology only now exists for such linkage," he said in a paper published in Surgical Neurology International.
Even if the procedure itself is feasible - as Dr. Canavero believes - some questions remain: what would be the benefits of a head transplant? And is the body able to fully recover from such a traumatic event? Medical News Today spoke to Dr. Canavero to get some answers.
More here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/301073.php
I know some antis that would benefit from this procedure
