Doctor wants to perform the first complete head transplantation in early 2018

Head transplant planned for spring 2018 in China

An Italian doctor plans to perform the first head transplant in China in the spring of 2018. Around 100 experts will be involved in the daring company. Critics warn about the operation. The neurosurgeon itself obviously has no ethical concerns.

Advances in transplantation medicine

Transplantation medicine has made tremendous progress in recent years. For example, in 2015 the medical scientists succeeded in achieving the sensational transplantation of a skullcap. And last year, the first penile grafting was done in the US. Also causing a stir was a recent operation by a German-Italian team of scientists, in which a boy was transplanted an almost completely new skin. Even more striking, however, is the project of an Italian surgeon: he plans the transplantation of a human head.

An Italian doctor plans to perform a head transplant in China together with around 100 experts. Critics warn about the operation. (Image: Kadmy / fotolia.com)

Human head should be transplanted

The message is a bit reminiscent of the famous movie "Frankenstein", in which a researcher from several body parts creates a new entity: The Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero plans to transplant a human head for the first time in spring 2018.

According to his plans, the head of a sick patient should be cut off and placed on the healthy body of a brain dead during the first procedure performed worldwide.

Already two years ago Canavero told the science magazine "New Scientist": "I think we are now at the point that all technical aspects are feasible."

Actually, the plan was already planned for 2017, but probably had to be postponed because of the volunteer, the Russian Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from muscle loss due to a rare genetic defect, has decided to.

Experiments with animals

There have been several similar animal experiments in the past. For example, the Russian physician Vladimir Demikhov created a two-headed dog in the 1950s.

And Professor Robert White of the Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio transplanted a monkey head in 1970. However, the experimental animals lived only a few days after the surgery.

In 2013, the Chinese Ren Xiaoping managed to transplant a mouse head. He explained that Canavero's experiment is based on his basic knowledge.

"He contacted me and asked for advice on the operation," said the Chinese People's Daily researcher..

The Chinese scientist is also said to have transplanted a foreign body to a rhesus monkey in 2016. However, the monkey reportedly could not move his body after the operation. He had to be euthanized after 20 hours.

Since the study has not yet been published, critics doubt the reliability of the information.

Head transplant performed on a deceased person

Together with the colleague Xiaoping Ren from the "Harbin Medical University", Canavero now wants to carry out the human head transplantation in China.

The Italian doctor, who together with the publisher and editor-in-chief of the magazine "OOOM", Georg Kindel, wrote the book "Medicus Magnus - The Revolution of Medicine and How We Use It for Us", spoke at the presentation of the work in Vienna his project.

According to the information, a head transplantation has already been performed on a deceased person. During the 18-hour operation, the spine, nerves and blood vessels of a severed head could be reconnected.

In the spring of 2018, a Chinese will now be the first person to have a head transplanted.

According to media reports, the intervention will involve a total of 100 experts, including 12 surgeons.

Critics were before the operation

Although my experts, Canavero and Ren, are quite well able to control the rejection reactions with medication, they doubt that it will be possible to transplant the head without brain damage.

The biggest hurdle is probably to reconnect the severed nerve fibers in the patient's spinal cord. Canavero says he can repair the injuries if he minimizes damage to the nerves with a straight, sharp cut.

He wants to fill the gap between the fibers with the chemical polyethylene glycol (PEG). This method had in one experiment stimulated the nerve fibers of paraplegic rats to grow again.

They were then able to move better than before, but their nerve fibers did not grow together.

People take their destiny in the hand

Although other scientists criticize the project Canaveros as "unethical", but the Italian surgeon does not share this view.

In early 2016, Canavero and Ren published a letter in the journal "Surgical Neurology International," in which they accused critics of judging the project without knowing it properly.

Nature has long determined our lives, now people take their fate into their own hands, according to the researcher, who also believes that the experiment planned could provide clues as to where the "soul" sits.

Above all, it's about helping patients.

"We want to cure people who have found no relief in medicine," said Canavero in an older interview with the Austrian Internet portal "futurezone".

At the time, however, he acknowledged: "The risk of the first patient dying exists. We do not know how well the repellent-suppressing drugs work. He will not have a normal life expectancy, but that applies to all forms of organ transplantation. "(Ad)