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First head transplant Renowned researcher wants to be there
In the spring of this year it was announced that an Italian surgeon plans the first head transplant in a human for the coming year. Now the news agency APA-OTS reports that with Dr. med. Karen Minassian also an expert of MedUni Vienna is involved in the project. The information would come from the new magazine "Ooom", which is published for the first time today. According to this, the scientist is researching in the area of paraplegia and should therefore make a significant contribution to ensuring that the patient is allowed to walk again after the transplantation.
Neurosurgeon plans first head transplant for 2017
The message was reminiscent of the famous movie "Frankenstein", in which a researcher created a new entity out of several body parts. As announced in May of this year, Italian neurosurgeon Professor Sergio Canavero plans to transplant a human head for the first time in 2017. According to Canavero's plans, the head of a sick patient should be severed and placed on the healthy body of a brain dead during the world's first intervention. The 30-year-old Russian programmer Waleri Spiridonov was the first volunteer for the hitherto unique project. The man has been suffering from the disease of Werdnig-Hoffmann since childhood, sits in a wheelchair and has severe physical deformities. "I know that I can die. But I do not back down anymore. I need a new body. Nobody can imagine what it's like to live with it ", according to the man justification according to the news agency" dpa ".
Physicians plan the first head transplant worldwide for the year 2017. (Image: sudok1 / fotolia.com) Neural networks remove certain tasks from the brain
So far, what was only "science fiction" could soon become real. Sergio Canavero obviously receives support from, inter alia, an Austrian expert. Because "APA-OTS" is currently reporting that, according to the new magazine "Ooom", Dr. Karen Minassian from the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering of the MedUni Vienna participated in the project. "We know today that the spinal cord is much more than a conduit, it controls complex muscle and leg movements. To put it bluntly, humans do not need a brain to walk. There are neuronal networks as well as breathing, chewing or sexual functions that relieve the brain of tasks, "the scientist quotes in a pre-announcement from the Ooom magazine. Thus, even in the case of spinal cord transection at transplantation, there would still be certain neural bandages characterized by activity and e.g. electrical stimulation "could create the basic rhythm for flexion and extension movements and thus walking".
Intervention could mean healing for millions of people
"It sounds macabre, but if you separate a cat's brain from the spinal cord and then put it on a treadmill, it will automatically go," Dr. Minassian continues. Since the late 1990s, there were scientific publications on people after severe cross-sectional injuries that share this assumption, the first attempts in this area, there was already in the 1970s, explains the scientist. According to the news agency, Prof. Canavero therefore has very high expectations of the new magazine: "It may be that our operation can bring healing for millions of people with spinal cord injuries," said the Italian neuroscientist of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group.
The successful transplantation would have serious consequences: "I do the surgery to prove or disprove that our consciousness is created by the brain. If we can prove that our brain does not create consciousness, the religions will be swept away forever. You do not need them anymore, because people then no longer have to worry about dying, "explained Canavero.
Critics express medical and ethical concerns
The project had caused a lot of criticism since it was announced, and many international experts considered it completely unrealistic. "That's impossible. That is speculative, and nothing is said to be the farthest horizon, "said German expert Edgar Biemer, who recently participated in an arm transplantation in Germany. "If I separate a spinal cord from my head, then that's it, and once and for all," emphasized Veit Braun, chief physician of neurosurgery at the Diakonie Klinikum Siegen in Germany.
As "APA-OTS" continues to report, according to the new magazine, Dr. Minassian has long considered whether he wants to participate in the project. Now he is convinced: "In principle, such a transplant can be successful. If anyone can do it, then Prof. Canavero. "Previously, Minassian had participated in an international study that identified control mechanisms by which the spinal cord controls the described muscle activity. It has been shown that even in paraplegia, the spinal cord sends impulses to the leg muscles despite the broken connection to the brain. In addition, the researchers then developed a non-invasive method to stimulate the spinal cord, which could possibly be used in rehabilitation measures. "With Dr. Minassian we have a very experienced Austrian specialist in the team, which will consist of 150 experts, including about 80 surgeons, "said Prof. Canavero according to the statement. (No)