According to media reports, the Italian neurosurgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero will attempt the first transplant of a human head (cephalosomatic anastomosis) in the end of 2017.[1] Valery Spiridonow is volunteering for this project since he suffers from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and believes the surgery will offer a chance to escape from this fatal disease.[2]
Similar experiments have already been performed more or less successfully on animals. In some cases, the animals survived but they remained paraplegic and their cardiovascular and respiratory systems had to be supported. Also they did not survive quite long after the surgery.[3,4] In fact, many experts are strongly doubting the success of this highly expensive transplant too.
Head Transplant : Fact or Fiction ?
Even if it might become a 100 % success, there remain a lot of serious questions:
– Will the patient (the head) be mentally and emotionally the same person as before?
– Will the brain be able to cope with a completely strange body and vice-versa?
Of course, Spiridonow will first have to find a donor for the body. He needs the body of a physically healthy man suffering from cerebral death and the consent of his relatives. Spiridonow’s new body will have the genome of the donor, so what are the legal consequences for any offspring regardless of whether they were conceived before or after the transplant?
So once again we are confronted with the problem of how far mankind can go to explore the possibilities of science and consider ethics at the same time. I think we should be excited and enthusiastic for the outcome of this dramatic surgery if it is going to happen anyway.
— Tatjana Daenzer
Read more:
[1] http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-man-volunteers-for-first-human-head-transplant/
[2] http://www.desireforlife.org/valery-spiridonov/
[3] Canavero, Surg Neurol Int. 2013, 4, 335.
[4] Canavero, Surg Neurol Int. 2015, 6, 18.