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Doctor Ready to Perform First Human Head Transplant (newsweek.com)

Posted by msmash on from the advancements-in-Science,-creepy-Science dept.

Ross Kenneth Urken, reporting for Newsweek (edited and condensed): Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero had his Dr. Strange moment when he announced he'd be able to do a human head transplant in a two-part procedure he dubs HEAVEN (paywalled, this alternate link could help) (head anastomosis venture) and Gemini (the subsequent spinal cord fusion). [...] Canavero has a plan: It's a 36-hour, $20 million procedure involving at least 150 people, including doctors, nurses, technicians, psychologists and virtual reality engineers. In a specially equipped hospital suite, two surgical teams will work simultaneously -- one focused on Valery Spiridonov (patient) and the other on the donor's body, selected from a brain-dead patient and matched with the Spiridonov for height, build and immunotype. Both patients -- anesthetized and outfitted with breathing tubes -- will have their heads locked using metal pins and clamps, and electrodes will be attached to their bodies to monitor brain and heart activity. Next, Spiridonov's head will be nearly frozen, ultimately reaching 12 to 15 degrees Celsius, which will make him temporarily brain-dead.Shouldn't it be called a body transplant? Since a person is often defined by the brain. You can read the complete procedure here.

5 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Paywall by bruce_the_loon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Please stop posting paywalled articles.

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    Trying to become famous by taking photos. Visit my homepage please.
    1. Re:Paywall by msmash · · Score: 5, Informative

      Thanks for pointing that out. It's a feature article, so you wouldn't find this news elsewhere. I have updated the story to add a Google cache link of the story, check if that helps.

  2. Re:Is the donor dead? by wkwilley2 · · Score: 1, Informative

    Body donor is brain-dead.

    Cells in the body begin to decay as soon as blood flow ceases, so that's a problem.

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    Have you ever fallen asleep at the keybhanusdiog?
  3. Re:Dammit Jim, it's a body transplant by gurps_npc · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are several examples that resulted in living animals that were paralyzed.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

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    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  4. Re:Dammit Jim, it's a body transplant by SB5407 · · Score: 5, Informative

    AND, it said right there in the Newsweek article that Dr. Robert J. White did the first (mostly?) successful head transplant on a monkey in 1970. Lots of precedent for this, surprisingly.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...