Could an Italian Scientist Pave the Way for Human Head Transplants?

USNews ^ | 2 Jul 2013 | ALLIE BIDWELL

[mandaladon]

In what sounds like a science-fiction novel come to life, one scientist says he is close to being able to affix one person's head to another human body.

Italian scientist Sergio Canavero believes he has come up with an outline to successfully complete the first human head transplant in history, which could lead to solutions for those suffering from muscular dystrophy or tetraplegics with widespread organ failure.

Head transplants have been attempted since the 1950s, when Russian scientist Vladimir Demikhov experimented with dogs. Twenty years later, American neurosurgeon Robert White conducted a successful head transplant by moving the head of one monkey to the body of another. The monkey lived for several days, but because White could not connect the two spinal cords, the monkey eventually died.

Canavero describes in a recent paper a step to connect donor and recipient spinal cords – the one component that was missing from previous procedures because the technology to do so was not yet available.

Canavero describes in a recent paper a step to connect donor and recipient spinal cords – the one component that was missing from previous procedures because the technology to do so was not yet available.

"Tomorrow is today," Canavero said in an interview. "What was impossible can happen now."

[mandaladon]

But people who simply want to cheat death could hypothetically undergo the surgery to acquire a younger body, he says..................Frankenstein is coming

[mandaladon]

Muslims are good at beheading...maybe they’ll be the first ones to try this.

[BenLurkin]

[OddLane]

They can do better.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I have a feeling this is going to be a LOOOOOOOONG thread with a growing list of potential candidates.

[Carry_Okie]

A child could do it.

[NCDave]

[P.O.E.]

[The Sons of Liberty]

So Hillary can finally get those eight pounds of ugly fat removed!

[jmcenanly]

I can see this as being useful in cases of a severed spinal cord, but this Frankenstein surgery sounds like something out of a horror movie

[MinstrelBoy]

He must have watched the most recent X-Files movie.

[Mashood]

We know it can be done because it was on Mars Attacks!

[Gay State Conservative]

[I want the USA back]

Before long they will be making clones just for this purpose. “Sorry Clo, but I raised you for this.”

[Mastador1]

Even back then they knew about Biden!

[A_Tradition_Continues]

New meaning to the phrase “getting ahead in life.”

[tired&retired]

I think the Syrians are winning the race to be the first!

“Horrific video shows Syrian Catholic priest being ‘beheaded by jihadist fighters in front of cheering crowd’A Syrian Catholic priest has been beheaded by jihadist fighters in Syria, it has been claimed. “

[Jyotishi]

Excerpt: [...] Rise of Plastic Surgery Just as the Sun rises in the East, the science of plastic surgery first dawned in the ancient Indian civilization.The first detailed description of plastic surgical procedures is found in the clinical text on Indian surgery, the 'Sushruta Samhita' (circa 600 B.C.). Atharva Veda, the root of Ayurveda, the classical text of Indian medical knowledge includes two seminal texts, Charaka Samhita on medicinal aspects and Sushruta Samhita which incorporates details of surgical tools and operative techniques. Sushruta wrote this treatise based on the lectures of his teacher, the famous surgeon king, Devadas ('incarnation of Dhanwantari, the divine physician). In fourth century A.D. Vagbhat, an Indian physician recounted the plastic surgical procedures with more details than provided in Sushruta Samhita. In his book,'Ashtanga Hridyans Samhita' he credits the techniques to Maharishi Atreya. It is interesting to find mention of plastic surgical procedures such as rhinoplasty, otoplasty, tissue grafting, organ transplants, transfer of embryo, cross-grafting of head and re-attachment of limbs etc., in these ancient Indian Medical Treatises and Puranic Literature. This golden era of Hindu Surgery began its gradual decline from the time of Buddha (562- 472 B.C.). Buddhist scripture Mahavagga Jataka enforced strict prohibition on surgeons and Manusmriti prescribed special rituals for purification of surgeons. Contemporary teaching that time was basically medicinal i.e. Ayurveda, which forbade surgery, as contact with blood and pus was considered polluting. Hence, during this period, these great surgical skills were delegated to lower castes like 'Koomars' or potters who were known for their manual dexterity. They kept alive this valuable knowledge and passed it from father to son as a family secret. In fact India and Egypt are considered as the fountain-heads from which the stream of knowledge flowed to the middle east, eventually to reach Mediterranean civilization; the Greeks and the Romans. The ancient Indian medical knowledge was carried into Greece and Arabia by Buddhist Missionaries. The German, French and English surgeons were introduced to the older Indian method. During that period, certain German scholars who studied the original text in Sanskrit, British surgeons and French travelers, who saw for themselves the rhinoplasty operations performed in India, revealed the wonders and practical possibilities of this speciality to the Western world. It was, however, the discovery of anaesthesia (Morton, Long and Wells) and anti-sepsis (Lord Lister) which revolutionised the practice of surgery and made it painless and infection free. [...] http://indianantiquity.blogspot.com/

[Vaduz]

Well D.C. going to be empty for a while.

[BBell]

I predict an up coming movie about young men and women snatched for their bodies, not their heads. Imagine Grandma’s head on a hot young body.