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Surgeon Swears Human Head Transplant Isn't a 'Metal Gear Solid' Publicity Stunt

Posted by Soulskill on from the life-imitates-viral-marketing dept.

Jason Koebler writes: Dr. Sergio Canavero wants to become the first surgeon to perform a human head transplant. But some discerning gamers noticed that a doctor shown in the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V looks almost exactly like Canavero, leading some to speculate that it's all a viral marketing campaign for the upcoming game. Canavero, however, filed a sworn affidavit with Italian police in which he said Konami illegally stole his likeness, and that he has nothing to do with the game.

79 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Dubious by damn_registrars · · Score: 5, Funny

    I heard he also named his first son up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,a,b,select,start. There just might be something to this conspiracy.

    --
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    1. Re:Dubious by CastrTroy · · Score: 5, Informative

      See, it couldn't possibly be him, everybody knows the real Konami Code is:

      up,up,down,down,left,right,left,right,b,a

      The Start/Select-Start isn't part of the actual code, but rather just get's you into the game. You need to use Select if you want to play 2 player.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:Dubious by LoverOfJoy · · Score: 1

      Sounds like they took his likeness and transplanted it into the game. Was it just his head?

    3. Re:Dubious by AlCapwn · · Score: 1

      He'll never be the head of a major corporation.

  2. Wrong Wrong Wrong by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not a head transplant .. it's a BODY transplant.

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    1. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't tell that to the body. The body thinks it's a head transplant :P

    2. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

      The convention is that it's the smaller part which is being transplanted, not the larger.

      So technically "head transplant" is accurate, if somewhat misleading for the layperson.

    3. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by gstoddart · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Except the GP is correct ... because the head is your brain, your memory, your identity, and the thing which will control the body.

      A head transplant would imply Bob would get a new head and change his body ... except we don't have the ability to transfer the parts of Bob contained in the brain to a new head.

      In this case, the head is the single most important part to still being, in some definition of the word, the same person.

      It really is a body transplant, since the owner of the original head is still who will be legally left after this.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by mjm1231 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Let's say we transplant Bob's head onto Steve's body. After the surgery, will Bob say he has a new body, or will Steve say he has a new head? (Hint: don't believe anything Steve says. He's talking through his ass.)

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    5. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by bzipitidoo · · Score: 2

      Obligatory Head of Vecna story. They didn't think about the meaning of the location of the brain....

      In Spock's Brain, they could have taken Spock's entire head. Or, why not just kidnap Spock? Grab first, then take brain out. Or, or, if they have the technology to remove a brain intact, and reprogram it to serve their purposes, wouldn't that imply the ability to just copy it or make up their own brain? Oh well, that episode is unfixably bad anyway.

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    6. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by LrdDimwit · · Score: 1

      Six of one, half a dozen of the other. It's not a liver transplant, it's a body transplant. In the case of a liver transplant, most of the original material is left, and the liver is replaced with the new one. Likewise with the head transplant. Sure, who survives runs counter to the way that transplants usually work - usually the body receiving the transplant survives and the donor dies - but that isn't really how people conceptualize the process.

    7. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      To each their own. Or, in this case, to each the other.

    8. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.
          - Emo Philips

    9. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

      You're not wrong, but that's not the point I was making.

      The determination of what is being transplanted is made from the surgeon's point of view, not the subject's. And from the surgeon's point of view, what's being transplanted is whichever part is smaller

      Like if you put your old battery in a new car, you've replaced the battery in your new car. You wouldn't say you've replaced your old battery's car.

    10. Re:Wrong Wrong Wrong by JoeDuncan · · Score: 1

      Except you are entirely missing the point. The medical subject is irrelevant when saying what's being transplanted. By convention, what is being transplanted where is determined entirely from the surgeon's point of view, not the subject's. And that convention says that it's the smaller part which is being transplanted to the larger part.

      What the functions of the parts being transplanted are, or their relative importance to the subject, is utterly irrelevant in terms of which is the subject and which is the object (of the transplant).

      I'm not saying I agree with the convention, but it is what it is.

  3. I hope it's a publicity stunt by Shadwhawk · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It might not have anything to do with MGS, but it sure as hell better be a publicity stunt, because anyone involved in an actual human head transplant surgery will need to lose their medical licenses and go to prison for a very long time.

    1. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      In that case, Dr. Mehmet Cengiz Öz will certainly be recommending on his next show as a miracle weight loss technique.

    2. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I feel the same way about blood transfusions. Are you a Jehovah's Witness too?

    3. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by BillCable · · Score: 1

      The patient's options are certain death or slim chance at life, with risk of extreme pain and suffering. I don't fault him for choosing the latter, and I don't fault the surgeons for offering him that choice.

    4. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by gcnaddict · · Score: 1

      Brain death qualifies a donor to donate a body.

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    5. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A body transplant will kill the recipient.

      The body is ALREADY DEAD. They are planning to use the body of someone killed by a head injury, most likely a motorcycle accident. The head is from someone that would otherwise die because of problems with multiple organs (heart, lung, liver, etc.). Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway.

      Opposing it has nothing to do with superstition.

      It is either superstition or ignorance.

    6. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by Shadwhawk · · Score: 3, Informative

      Because the procedure is entirely untested, even in animals! He hasn't even shown he can partially heal a severed spinal cord in a rat using his technique, let alone performing a successful head transplant. I'm all for experimental procedures in extreme cases, but there's a difference between "Ok, we're ready to try this in humans now after a decade of animal and human tissue tests, though you've got a 99% chance of dying anyway" and "What if we replace his burned skin with fruit leather? This propylene glycol will give it sensation and blood vessels, I'm sure of it!"

    7. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A body transplant will kill the recipient.

      The body is ALREADY DEAD. They are planning to use the body of someone killed by a head injury, most likely a motorcycle accident. The head is from someone that would otherwise die because of problems with multiple organs (heart, lung, liver, etc.). Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway.

      Opposing it has nothing to do with superstition.

      It is either superstition or ignorance.

      The problem is that the body views it as a head transplant, and the immune system attacks and kills the head.
      This isn't about superstition, and any ignorance is on your own part. This guy has not demonstrated this technique even on a rat, let alone on any sort of primate, and unless he has some super-secret technique (also never demonstrated) for reconnecting the spinal column it's not going to do anything for the guy getting the body attachment.
      This isn't how good medical science is performed. This is "mad doctor in his secret underground lair" style research.

      Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway.

      Well no fucking shit buddy. Everybody dies sooner or later. In this case, the patient will die sooner rather than later.
      I'm all for pushing medical boundaries, but it needs to be done in a scientific manner. You don't just find some suckers near the end of their life and do wild and crazy experiments on them in the hopes that maybe something accidentally works.

    8. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by ausekilis · · Score: 1

      Why don't they do a double-transplant? Just swap the heads?

      Maybe a husband-and-wife combo.

      Because then at least one of them would never leave the house.

    9. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by AntiAntagonist · · Score: 2

      It's been partially tested (on a very unhappy monkey), but I agree that it hasn't been tested enough to prove that it would work reliably for a human.

    10. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It might not have anything to do with MGS, but it sure as hell better be a publicity stunt, because anyone involved in an actual human head transplant surgery will need to lose their medical licenses and go to prison for a very long time.

      Or be hailed as the greatest surgeon who ever lived.

      There is no middle ground with this one.

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    11. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      and one trying to refuse to make a sandwich.

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    12. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by pubwvj · · Score: 1

      "Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway."

      Yes, well, umm... that is a very, very nice neat tautology. I like it! :)

    13. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by jblues · · Score: 1

      Why don't they do a double-transplant? Just swap the heads?

      Maybe a husband-and-wife combo.

      Doh! I'm sorry Anonymous Coward, I just moderated your comment 'redundant' by accident. (Hand slipped on the trackpad while slurping coffee.). . . its actually pretty damn funny. Not sure exactly why, but it really made me laugh.

      Edit: Seems I can revert that by replying as me.

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    14. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      because anyone involved in an actual human head transplant surgery will need to lose their medical licenses and go to prison for a very long time

      Since when does an attempt to save a life through transplants equate to losing medical licenses or prison?

    15. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by LrdDimwit · · Score: 1

      If you fail, the man dies right now. When a patient dies during an operation, even if they accepted the risk and further even if they knew the risks were very high, it doesn't matter. The surgeon is going to be investigated for malpractice. And subjecting somebody to an unproven highly-dangerous process when there's little foundation work (like years of successful animal procedures) is probably malpractice.

    16. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      "Nobody is going to die that wouldn't be dead anyway."

      Yes, well, umm... that is a very, very nice neat tautology. I like it! :)

      It's not a tautology, because it is not logically guaranteed to be true.

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    17. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Because we're not in the habit of wanton experimentation that might kill all of the patients involved. That's why we wait for there to be a case where they're going to die anyway. That way, no matter what happens, doctors have not violated their first oath to do no harm. Worst case, the person dies, just as they would have otherwise.

    18. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by DiEx-15 · · Score: 1

      In that case, Dr. Mehmet Cengiz Öz will certainly be recommending on his next show as a miracle weight loss technique.

      I also heard "Dr." Oz will be getting a name transplant.

      He'll be replacing "Oz" with either "Quack" or "Fraud". Although my favorite is "Homeopathy-SoldOut-Nut"

    19. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      When a patient dies during an operation, even if they accepted the risk and further even if they knew the risks were very high, it doesn't matter. The surgeon is going to be investigated for malpractice.

      Horseshit. Despite what you think about ripping off a head and putting it on another body there are experimental and high risk medical procedures performed on almost daily basis, and people die from them quite regularly.

      The only thing that's out of the ordinary here is the news coverage because we're actually swapping over an entire body. From a medical point of view it's no different to other new and unproven treatments.

    20. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by pubwvj · · Score: 1

      Everyone's going to die thus everybody is going to _be_ dead anyway.

    21. Re:I hope it's a publicity stunt by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      Everyone's going to die thus everybody is going to _be_ dead anyway.

      Not if they invent immortality first. For it to be a tautology, it would have to be logically guaranteed to be true, not just incredibly likely.

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  4. Snake? Snake! by rnmartinez · · Score: 1

    Sorry, I couldn't resist. But regardless of the MGS connection, this does sound like a grab for attention, and if it does work, where are we going to get a steady supply of healthy, undamaged, bodies? (Until we can print them that is)

    1. Re:Snake? Snake! by Thornburg · · Score: 1

      It should be a law that you have to be an organ donor in order to legally not wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle.

    2. Re:Snake? Snake! by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 2

      Better: non-donors go to the bottom of the list when they need one themselves.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Snake? Snake! by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Or at least have that mean "in the event of head trauma do not treat".

      We'll call it a special case of Darwin award.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:Snake? Snake! by durrr · · Score: 1

      There's bodies flagged for organ harvest. If someone is on the brink of death due to multi-organ failure then swapping a head will keep the mind alive, and if the head dies then you could harvest the body anyway.

      The biggest problem is re-innervation

    5. Re:Snake? Snake! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      it should be legal to sell your organs... that would solve the organ transplant shortage problem.

    6. Re:Snake? Snake! by SydShamino · · Score: 1

      And create a new way to exploit the poor and desperate!

      --
      It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  5. Translating from the Italian police declaration... by monkeyzoo · · Score: 4, Informative

    He declared on April 20 that he received an email from the UK with a link to the YouTube trailer of the game containing his likeness. He thinks they used a video of him from a TED conference as the basis and retouched it. He subsequently began receiving many harassing phone calls from a UK telephone number. He then says he found an Italian language website about the game with a link to a fraudulent Twitter account in his name (he claims to have no Twitter, Facebook, or other social media accounts).

  6. 7 doubles around the world and 1+ in video games by BlaF · · Score: 1

    Everybody is said to have 7 doubles around the world. Now we will also have to take into account those in video games :-)

  7. Common sense here folks by Lucas123 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Medicine has yet to repair a spinal cord injury, but there are people out there who believe some doctor's going to perform a head transplant? Really?

    1. Re:Common sense here folks by Dr.+Spork · · Score: 2

      Nobody said that the nerves are going to work. Post transplant, the person will certainly be paralyzed from the neck down. That's why this kind of surgery is only appropriate for a paraplegic whose body is about to fail. He or she is not going to stop being a paraplegic, but might get many extra years of life by acquiring a robust new body.

    2. Re:Common sense here folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The only rational explanation I have is the difference between a surgically severed cord and one that's been mangled.

      As a quadriplegic, I'm hoping we learn something about the spinal cord.

      As a rational person, I don't expect this patient to survive.

      Captcha: funeral. Seriously?

    3. Re:Common sense here folks by Caedite+Eos · · Score: 1

      Billions of people go top some kind of church or another. So ...

    4. Re:Common sense here folks by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      This has been done in the past with monkeys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...

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    5. Re:Common sense here folks by idontgno · · Score: 5, Informative

      "paralyzed from the neck down" == "suffocating in minutes", since all respiratory impulses are carried on the somatic spinal nerves controlling the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles. Never mind the fact that severed autonomic nerves means no information from or control of any organs: digestive system shuts down, heart never responds to physiologic need and could spontaneously fibrillate... most organ systems shut down.

      Sorry, it's absolutely required to effectively re-fuse the entire spinal cord plus the independent segments of the parasympathetic nervous system (such as the vagus nerve) through the dissection plane. Otherwise, you're just attaching a head to a dying body.

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    6. Re:Common sense here folks by durrr · · Score: 1

      It's easier to heal a surgical incision than a blunt trauma generated by your cervical bones crushing your spine.

    7. Re:Common sense here folks by umafuckit · · Score: 1

      It's easier to heal a surgical incision than a blunt trauma generated by your cervical bones crushing your spine.

      The problem is that these nerves don't grow back when they're cut. It doesn't matter how they're cut, they just don't grow back.

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    8. Re:Common sense here folks by jandrese · · Score: 1

      That and there is no guarantee that they'll line up between the patient and the donor. He could be trying to beat his heart but all that's happening is his big toe is wiggling. I'm suspicious too.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    9. Re:Common sense here folks by charlieo88 · · Score: 1

      Unless you have an iron lung. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... These aren't even new.

    10. Re:Common sense here folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not true... I'd look up the article, but just within the last six months it was reported that a doctor in Europe was able to get a spinal cord to reconnect. It was on a knife wound victim, so a clean cut. They packed it with stem cells harvested from the nasal cavities. It took two years, but the guy has regained both sensation and function.

    11. Re:Common sense here folks by charlieo88 · · Score: 1

      So if the choice is between death and quadriplegia... I don't know about you, but I'd rather try out being a quadriplegic first, BEFORE the dying thing.

    12. Re:Common sense here folks by durrr · · Score: 1

      The problem with your statement is that there's very little data on it and that laymen like yourself have preformed conceptions about what's possible and what's not. Every form of cancer was once upon a time 100% mortal for example and there's still preconceptions about brain cancer and leukemia deathrates remaining based on that.

    13. Re:Common sense here folks by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      How's that waiting working out for you?

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    14. Re:Common sense here folks by ScentCone · · Score: 1

      Billions of people go top some kind of church or another. So ...

      And at least a few of them genuinely believe in the magical thinking, while most are just there from social peer pressure. But it's still a dire problem.

      --
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    15. Re:Common sense here folks by hey! · · Score: 1

      Sometimes common sense is just wrong, particularly when it comes to predicting the behavior of other people who might not agree with what you consider "common sense". If you check his publications in Google Scholar, this guy's been publishing surgical neuroscience papers in real journals since around 1990. I think he really intends to try this.

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    16. Re:Common sense here folks by idontgno · · Score: 2

      That's nice. Now you have a head attached to a dying body stuck in an iron lung.

      Not to mention that it does nothing for every other organ failing for lack of functional innervation. Which is all of them.

      Hell, if you're going to this much trouble, just attach the head directly to artificial life support. More effective, far simpler, and less limited than your preferred solution.

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    17. Re:Common sense here folks by TheSync · · Score: 1

      It doesn't matter how they're cut, they just don't grow back.

      Actually spinal cord nerves can regrow with appropriate treatment.

    18. Re:Common sense here folks by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      Medicine has yet to repair a spinal cord injury, but there are people out there who believe some doctor's going to perform a head transplant? Really?

      Possibly. One of the problems with spinal injuries is scar tissue formation, and another nerve elongation (or lack thereof). But with a head transplant, the surgeon could leave extra spinal cord on one or both pieces, and then reduce to the proper length in whatever manner is best for reattachment.

      Of course, I fully expect the patient to be paralyzed from the neck down, followed shortly by death. Most likely death before the new body is attached or consciousness regained. Cryonics seems like a safer gamble.

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    19. Re:Common sense here folks by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Well, yes, really. The reason these claims are showing up right now is because he thinks he's finally cracked exactly that issue. The transplant is intended as a means to test that theory. And he can't do it on typical patients suffering from severed spinal cords due to trauma of some sort, since his idea relies on a very particular way of cutting the spinal cord, apparently.

    20. Re:Common sense here folks by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 1

      So, all quadriplegics immediately die, do they?
      Christopher Reeve survived for almost 10 years using an automatic ventilator, and others like him have survived much longer.

    21. Re:Common sense here folks by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

      What about this?

      http://www.bbc.com/news/health...

      They say it was possible since the nick in the cord was clean (also not being 100% through helped I guess). I wonder if a severance of the spinal cord was done with surgical precision if the process here could be used.

  8. Real doctors don't announce surgery 2 years before by gurps_npc · · Score: 1
    Especially when it is controversial. They keep it secret out of fear that the government might shut them down.

    Combined with the physical comparison this looks really strange.

    I call Public Relations Stunt.

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  9. Whoever spread this is an idiot. by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

    I think the character from MGS V: TPP is supposed to be Dr. Pettrovich Madnar

    Given the fact that Snake now gets a bionic arm and Dr. Pettrovich's work was in cybernetics? Yeah.

    --
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  10. Some people by avandesande · · Score: 1

    Some people will do anything to get ahead!

    --
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  11. Re:Prove it, then. by JazzLad · · Score: 3, Funny

    As long as the operation is a failure, we win either way.

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  12. Only one important question by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Who the hell was the donor?

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    1. Re:Only one important question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Abby someone.

    2. Re:Only one important question by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Abby someone.

      God bless you, anonymous coward. You made me laugh.

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  13. Don't tell me by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    they stole his head.

    OK, ok, lame joke. But at least I'm still ahead. Even my my own one.

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  14. Re: Sooooo... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Money makes everything legal. Provided you pay the right people.

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  15. Well teh "surgeon" should explain himself by aepervius · · Score: 1

    I mean if he has a methodology to repair the millions of nerve going through the neck, then i am sure he can explain us his methodology. After all medicine is also a science. If he cannot explain it... then you can conclude yourself.

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  16. it's in pubmed, so... by dAzED1 · · Score: 1

    The doc's "HEAVEN" project is published in PUBMED so...if it's fake, he fooled NIH. Not that there aren't bad papers submitted on a regular basis...