Friday, November 17, 2017

World’s first head transplant is “imminent”

 This post was suggested by my grandson Jacob
 
Never too far away from making headlines, the controversial neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero is back with claims that the world’s first head transplant is “imminent”, after Chinese scientists successfully carried out the first head transplant on a human corpse.
He revealed the news at a press conference in Vienna on Friday morning. Professor Canavero claims the feat was carried out during an 18-hour operation at Harbin Medical University in China, during which a team of surgeons successfully severed then reconnected the spinal cord, nerves, and blood vessels in the spine and neck.

The operation was led by Dr Xiaoping Ren, a surgeon who has previously transplanted the head of a monkey and numerous rodents. Harbin Medical University is expected to write a full report on the operation within the next few days.
“The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done," Canavero told the crowd, according to the Telegraph. "A full head swap between brain-dead organ donors is the next stage. And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent.”

In a phone interview today, Canavero told USA Today that the operation will take place in China because the scientific establishment and authorities of Europe and the US were unwilling to support the contentious surgery.
"The Americans did not understand,” he said. "Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to restore China to greatness. He wants to make it the sole superpower in the world. I believe he is doing it.”

The eccentric Italian's plans to pull off the first live human head transplant have been surrounded and fueled with controversy. Back in 2015, he estimated that the operation would be done and dusted by 2017, however that’s looking unlikely considering the recent rate of developments.
Even though Canavero has spent the past few year writing scientific studies on the feat, massive doubts are continuing to be cast onto the scientific legitimacy of his big promises. Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at Langone Medical Center of New York University, said Canavero was “out of his mind”.

Speaking about head transplant surgery, neuroscientist Dean Burnett said: “When someone makes an extreme claim, my rule of thumb is this: If they haven’t provided robust scientific evidence, but they have done a TED talk, alarm bells should be ringing.”

First head transplant successfully carried out on live monkey
WARNING: Graphic picture. 


The first head transplant on a primate has been carried out by scientists in China 

Dr Sergio Canavero  carried out the first head transplant on a monkey ahead of plans to attempt the controversial procedure on a human by the end of next year.
Professor  Canavero, Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group and researchers at Harbin Medical University in China posted pictures of the creature whose head appears to have been grafted onto the body of another animal.
Stitches can clearly be seen surrounding the neck, which looked to be entirely severed.
"The plan for the first human head transplant is on schedule, towards its expected date of realization, Christmas 2017. “

According to Prof Canavero, the team led by Xiaoping Ren, connected the blood supply to prove that the animal could survive without suffering brain injury. They have not yet attempted to join the spinal cords so if the animal survived it would be completely paralysed.
“The monkey fully survived the procedure without any neurological injury of whatever kind,” says Prof Canavero, but said it was  kept alive for only 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons.


The picture claimed to be the first monkey head transplant

Ren has also tested some experiments on human corpses.
“We’ve done a pilot study testing some ideas about how to prevent injury,” he said.
The experiments are reported in a set of seven papers which are due to be published in the journals Surgery and CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics. The papers also claim to have shown that spine fusion technology developed by Canavero ‘has a strong rationale’ and works in mice allowing them to recover motor function. The team claims that crucial nerve fibers regrew.

A press release ahead of the publication said: “A full monkey head transplant has been successfully accomplished by Prof Ren’s group in China with the goal of testing cross-circulation and hypothermia as an effective neuroprotective strategy.
“The first studies on human cadavers have already begun in China and will be expanded shortly.
"The plan for the first human head transplant is on schedule, towards its expected date of realization, Christmas 2017. “
Canavero shocked the world last year when he said that he would be ready to transplant a human head within two years. He wants the first patient to be 31-year-old Russian, Valery Spriridonov, who has a genetic muscle-wasting disease.


 
Spriridonov, the Russian patient, will only be able to receive a new body in Russia, which will require a commitment from Russian authorities.
It is claimed that initial talks with Russian surgeons have already taken place and the team are hoping to approach Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for finance.
In the meantime, Vietnam has offered itself to host future head transplants.
“I would say we have plenty of data to go on,” said Prof Canavero. “It’s important that people stop thinking this is impossible. This is absolutely possible and we’re working towards it.”

Prof Sergio Canavero

However the fact that the team has press released their work before it has been published an peer reviewed has left some scientists anxious about the validity of their claims.
“It’s science through public relations,” Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University School of Medicine told New Scientist.
“When it gets published in a peer-reviewed journal I’ll be interested. I think the rest of it is BS.”

Thomas Cochrane, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School’s Centre for Bioethics, also told the magazine Canavero’s press release was unorthodox. “It’s frowned upon for good reason,” he said.
“It generates excitement before excitement is warranted. It distracts people from actual work that everyone can agree has a valid foundation. As far as I can tell, that operation has mostly been about publicity rather than the production of good science.”
“If the so-called head transplant works, this is going to open up a whole new science of spinal cord trauma reconstruction,” says Michael Sarr, editor of the journal Surgery and a surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “
We are most interested in spinal cord reconstruction using head transplantation as a proof of principle. Our journal does not necessarily support head transplantation because of multiple ethical issues and multiple considerations of informed consent and the possibility of negative consequences of a head transplant.”
I can see a cornucopia of ethical problems with this process . Add to this, a certain amount of shock and awe that we can actually do this. Is it a good thing? Is it a step toward immortality? Will someone take this knowledge and use for evil purposes? Of course they will. They always do.

2 comments:

  1. Aunt jeannie ,
    Why would some one want a head transplant , wonders will never stop amazing me , I know about heart , lung , kidney and some other transplants , but a head .
    I am glad Jacob suggested you do this post , man is destroying himself I think .
    On the bright side maybe they can transplant a head with a brain on the crazy man in the White house . Just wishful thinking aunt Jeannie .
    Aunt Jeannie I would love for you to read my letter from poppa , I put it where mama put her letters , let me know what you think ..
    Love Jonny

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  2. I figure they are doing this weird experiment just to prove they can do it. Where will it end?? A human head on a dog?? A lion's head on a horse?? It gives me the shudders. However, your idea of transplanting a brain in that big empty space in Trump's head is great. Nothing in there right now but cobwebs, an old banana peel and a candy wrapper.
    I loved the letter, Jonny. He was talking to you man to man. He had some great advice. I left a comment on WAG.
    Goodnight and sweet dreams
    Love Aunt Jeannie

    ReplyDelete

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