First Human Head Transplant Date Officially Set For 2017

Huffington Tech ^ | Septermber 14, 2015 | Thomas Tambyn

[lbryce]

It's finally happening. A controversial human head transplant operation now has a date and a team of neurosurgeons willing to undergo the procedure.

Italian neurosurgeon Dr Sergio Canavero has, according to CEN, announced that he will be carrying out the procedure at Harbin Medical University in China along with a team of both Chinese and Italian surgeons. valery spiridonov

Valery Spiridonov has agreed to undergo the procedure.

Dr Canavero has been talking about the controversial procedure for years but it was only this year that he was able to find a willing volunteer that would be happy to undergo the operation.

Russian computer scientist Valery Spiridonov is that volunteer. Suffering from a muscle-wasting condition called Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, Spiridonov hopes that the procedure will give him a second chance.

The $15m surgery would see Spiridinov’s head removed from his body and attached to a healthy body from a brain dead donor.

On Friday the pair appeared at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons in Maryland.

Dr Canavero, who was filmed kneeling at Spiridinov’s feet telling him: “We can do it”, said: “The chances of this working are 90 per cent, of course there is a marginal risk. I cannot deny that.”

'We can do it': Dr Sergio Canavero kneels at Spiridinov’s feet

Referring to Spiridinov, he said: “He is a brave man and he is in horrible condition. You have to understand - for him, Western medicine has nothing to offer. Western medicine has failed.”

Spiridinov, who is confined to a wheelchair, admitted he is nervous but said: “If it goes good, I think I will get rid of the limits which I have today.”

Of his critics, Dr Canavero said: “I prepare myself, scientifically but also psychologically

[lbryce]

This was the stuff of experiments as fodder for the goriest horror films, to real life procedures performed by Soviet experimenters in the 1950's creating two headed dogs by splicing a dog's head onto other dog's body,more for sick science than any real practical purpose. But here the objective seems real to perform the procedure for scientifically genuine reason and purpose.

[Hot Tabasco]

Dr Canavero said: “I prepare myself, scientifically but also psychologically

Wow, I so hope this goes well for not only him but for the medical field and its future..........

[Fai Mao]

Am I the only one who has visions of the book “That Hideous Strength” when I read this stuff?

[HarleyLady27]

I’m wondering who head they are going to put on shillary’s body?????

[Diamond]

Well I would have, but I thought this was from the Onion.

Cordially,

[Boogieman]

I still have ethical problems with this, because although they say the body donor is “brain dead”, that’s a subjective determination. In reality, a living, breathing person is going to be killed by doctors in order to acquire his body to be used for the transplant.

[fwdude]

Maybe they could use aborted baby cadavers for the bodies that will grow into his adult head size?

[Smokin' Joe]

Just wait until the gender benders get a hold of this...

[Mariner]

"To me, that's a death wish. "

I don't know if I wish for success here or not.

Certainly he picked the right human subject.

But, when he attached the head from one monkey to the body of another...did the spinal nerves reconnect for a fully mobile outcome?

Nevertheless, it gives me the creeps.

[Scrambler Bob]

a healthy body from a brain dead donor

Dang. If successful, this guy will be a Dem.

[dp0622]

Boy I hate to be a downer, but if reattaching a spinal cord could work, wouldn’t a lot of paralyzed people be walking?

Then there’s the issue of bodies rejecting something as small as a hand sometimes.

What’s the brain going to do with an entire new body.

I know they switched a monkey’s head but it was terrified and paralyzed.

What the heck, though. The guy’s really got nothing to lose.

When they put him under, they should switch the male donor with a female donor :)

[Scrambler Bob]

But, good news, there are lots of more brain dead donors available.

[hal ogen]

A rat’s head?

[PlateOfShrimp]

I’m reminded of an old joke whose punchline is “I’m sorry, that’s not possible” (spoken in a very deep voice).

[Hulka]

The entire demoncRAT party. . .?

[House Atreides]

This will NOT end well. The vast complexities of nerve connections between the brain and the body will result is a head on top of a spastic, uncontrollable body.

[spirited irish]

My thought as well. In fact I’m currently rereading That Hideous Strength.

[IWONDR]

“In reality, a living, breathing person is going to be killed by doctors in order to acquire his body to be used for the transplant.”

i’m guessing that they will take the body of recently deceased person, killed in an accident of some sort, involving the head of the body donor???

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

But has this even worked on animals? I remember reading he had done it on a monkey or something and it was still paralyzed and died later.

[BobL]

“The $15m surgery would see Spiridinov’s head removed from his body and attached to a healthy body from a brain dead donor.”

Plenty of available donors from the Republican leadership.