Head transplant - ambition to surpass human limits

The world's first human head transplant is scheduled to take place in 2017, and the controversy surrounding it is growing by the day.

Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero, who is expected to perform the first human head transplant in 2017. Photo: Alamy

According toNewsweek,While some consider Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero a pioneering genius, others see him as Dr. Frankenstein from the horror novel of the same name.

The 51-year-old had been planning the procedure for years, and by 2013 he was ready to perform it. In 2015, after receiving numerous emails and letters from candidates, he found a suitable candidate.

Valery Spiridonov, a 31-year-old Russian computer scientist, suffers from Werdnig-Hoffman spinal muscular atrophy. The rare genetic condition has left him unable to feed himself or take care of himself. He has repeatedly stated that he is willing to try potentially fatal methods to escape the condition, even setting up a Facebook page called Desire for Life.

“I was scared,” he said. “But people didn’t understand that I didn’t have many options.”

In January 2016, Canavero said he was getting closer to his goal, having conducted a series of experiments on animals and human cadavers, with the help of Chinese and South Korean scientists. The transplant of Spiridonov's head onto the body of a person in a vegetative state is expected to take place at Harbin Medical University in China.

Dr. Canavero also worked closely with Professor Xiaoping Ren of the University, who performed monkey head transplants and more than 1,000 mouse head transplants.

The implantation process

The transplant will be in two stages. The first is the "risky cephalic anastomosis," which Canavero calls "HEAVEN," and the Gemini spinal fusion stage.

The surgery is expected to last 36 hours and involve at least 150 doctors, nurses, technicians, psychologists and virtual reality engineers. The cost is estimated at $26 million.

First, the body and head will be cooled so that cells don’t die from lack of oxygen during the surgery, Dr. Canavero explained to New Scientist. The patient’s neck will be severed and vital blood vessels will be connected to tubes while the spine and body are separated using a $260,000 nanocarbon blade.

The head will then be transferred to the transplant body. The two spinal segments of the head and torso will be joined together with polyethylene glycol, which will allow the fat in the cell membranes to fit together.

The muscles and blood supply are then stitched back together. The patient will be placed in a coma for three to four weeks to allow the body to heal itself while the implanted electrodes stimulate the spinal cord to strengthen the new nerve connections.

If successful, the patient will need 12 months to recover.

Valery Spiridonov, who volunteered for the head transplant surgery. Photo: Australscope

"In theory, many things could work, but the most favorable outcomes for patients are probably only slightly better than those of actor Christopher Reeve," John Adler, a neurosurgeon and professor emeritus at Stanford University School of Medicine, told Newsweek.

Christopher Reeve, who played Superman in the 1980s movies, was left paralyzed after falling off a horse in 1996 and died nine years later of a heart attack.Spiridonov could suffer severe brain damage or a previously unseen mental illness if he survives the surgery.

"I wouldn't wish this on anybody. I wouldn't allow anybody to do it to me because there are worse things than death," Dr. Hunt Batjer, president-elect of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, told CNN.

“This work is not feasible. It is crazy,” said Dr. Canavero’s compatriot in the field, Lorenzo Pinessi, director of the Department of Neurology at the University of Turin.

Arthur Caplan, founder of the Division of Bioethics at New York University School of Medicine and perhaps Dr. Canavero's harshest critic, called him "a charlatan, a loudmouth, a self-aggrandizing jerk" who "peddlers of false hope."

Many experts in the field are concerned that the Italian doctor, who will publish seven papers in the journals Surgery and CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics in the coming months, seems to be paying more attention to what the media reports than waiting for reliable scientific evidence.

Probability of success

The idea has a rather gruesome history. In 1908, American physiologist Charles Guthrie transplanted a head onto a dog and saw its nostrils start to function again.

In the 1950s, Soviet transplant pioneer Vladimir Demikhov grafted 20 puppy heads onto adult dogs, leaving the original head intact, using a “vascular sewing machine” to minimize the time without oxygen. The dogs lived for a month, and he recorded strange behavior such as the new head biting the old head’s ear and “pulling as if trying to detach itself from the body.”

American neurosurgeon Robert White successfully performed a head transplant on a monkey in 1970. It was paralyzed from the neck down but was able to hear, smell, taste and move, however it only lived for 9 days.

Dr. Canavero is a longtime fan of Dr. White, who once wrote: "The Frankenstein legend, in which an entire human being is created by sewing different body parts together... will become a clinical reality in the early 21st century."

Michael Sarr, editor of the journal Surgery and a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, has previously expressed concerns about "many ethical issues and many considerations regarding consent and the potential negative consequences of head transplantation."

But he also sees Dr. Canavero's technique as having potential in treating patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries.

"He's a bit of a weirdo, but he's a serious guy. This isn't science fiction, it's serious science. There's experimental work that supports the idea of ​​neural membrane grafting."

The American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons says Dr. Canavero is "entering neurosurgery with the goal of surpassing human limits."

According to VNE