Dr. Sergio Canavero an Italian Neurosurgeon and a team of Scientists have carried out the first known head transplant on a human corpse, first announced at a press conference in Vienna. Allegedly Canavero was able to transplant the head and re-connect the nerves, blood vessels and spine. Canavero performed the operation in China and he credits improved Chinese surgical procedures for reducing the previously predicted time from 36 to 18 hours. However, he provided no concrete evidence of the procedure … pictures, videos, etc. A release of a scientific paper is pending according to the doctor. His lecture was compelling according to those in attendance.
USA Today called it an “Audacious Therapy.” If true, it is much more than just a therapy, it is ground breaking for Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, because here-to-fore there has been only small successes in spinal cord re-connection and damage repair. His techniques are unknown to the rest of the world at this point. USA Today also notes that this is more like a body transplant than a head transplant. However, the difference seems mute.
In the presentation Canavero explained that this is the first step toward doing a transplant on a live person. Due to medical and ethics concerns China seems the most likely site of the procedure. He also claims he has many volunteers lined up due to various conditions and disorders.
Dr. Canavero proposes a full head transplant on a brain-dead organ donor patient, that will occur very soon; some believe it may be as early as this December. It will be announced soon. Originally Valery Spiridonov, a thirty-three-year-old Russian suffering from a severe muscle wasting disease was scheduled to be the first patient. However, Newsweek has now announced a Chinese recipient will get the honor.
Among the nay-sayers is a columnist from the Guardian, who says, “The human body is not modular. You can’t swap bits around like you would Lego blocks.”
As with any new discovery or procedure there is a great deal of criticism, with many experts saying that it is not possible, due to the impossibility of fusing the spinal cord. Others are concerned with the ethics and/or legality of the procedure. Another concern is the donor body may expire but the head would remain alive. This would only be possible for a few days if the head could be mechanically attached to sufficient life support equipment, says Professor Jerry Silver from the Neuroscience Dept. at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. However, he believes if conscious, the head would be in massive pain due the severance of the rest of the body: bones, muscles, organs, spine, etc.
Canavero holds firm to his beliefs and estimates a 90% success projection for what he predicts will be a revolution in medical care and advancement. He believes he has solved the spinal cord fusion problems and the surgery is absolutely feasible.
