Recent neurosurgery advancements in cell engineering make human head transplant a future likelihood. An Italian scientist Dr. Sergio Canavero,admits that human head transplants may be possible in future with the medical techniques accessible today.
The head transplant surgery
Dr Sergio Canavero seems to have worked out the details of the surgery and has published his proposal in the Surgical Neurology International, a medical journal. He had accounted for the technique for heaven or ” Head Anastomosis Venture”.
The procedure involves the use of an “ultra-sharp blade” for the simultaneous severing of heads of 2 patients.
The recipient head is cooled and flushed out and then with the help of an advanced polymer glue it is fixed to the new body .
Similar Dr. Frankenstein and Canavero’s technique?
Mary Shelley of the Dr. Frankenstein fame may have never realized that she was giving an idea for some amazing head transplant discoveries to take place in the future. According to Dr Canavero the realigning of head and body can be done using “electrofusion” that is not very different from that showed in Dr. Frankenstein.
Other details of transplant
Dr Sergio Canavero, the Italian surgeon has earlier publishes researches on whole-eye transplants, and at the moment works with the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group. He insists that the head transplant is possible and is no fiction. He says that the experiment is similar to the one carried out in 1970 on Rhesus Monkeys, in which the patient managed to live for almost 8 days.
This first test was done almost 40 years ago and the leading contribution was by Dr. Robert White. Dr. White noted that “What has been accomplished in the animal model — prolonged hypothermic preservation and cephalic transplantation is fully accomplishable in the human sphere.”
GEMINI
GEMINI, the polymer gel reattachment method may not be absolutely perfect at the moment but it has at least laid down the “groundwork for the first successful human head transplant” affirms Dr Canavero .
Open research when done in a complete manner on this approach may give some great results in just about two years feels the Italian neurosurgeon. He further stated that “as little as 10% of descending spinal tracts are sufficient for some voluntary control of locomotion in man.”
Dr. Canavero does mark his choice for the first patient. He says that it would be preferable if the patient is young and has a fully functional brain, but he should have several metabolic and genetic disorders or progressive muscular dystrophies.
