Imagine putting a (living) human head on a new body — a "head transplant," if you will. It sounds impossible, like science-fiction or a dream of Dr. Frankenstein's. But for two surgeons, it could be their next big project, as detailed by a new story published in The Atlantic.
Surgeon Xiaoping Ren and his team have already transplanted heads on rats and a monkey with success. Still, monkeys and rats are a long way from transplanting a human head, which is not only extremely complicated but also extremely fragile; the brain dies if disconnected too long from blood. But the Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero — whose enthusiasm for the head-transplant project has been called "James Bond villain insane" by critics — has collaborated with Ren on the theoretical surgery, saying it has a "90 percent plus" chance of success and can be done as soon as late next year.
The whole thing sounds completely far-fetched — and according to plenty of experts, it is:
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But other researchers acknowledge that the project has a foundation, however shaky, in science. The past few decades have been a golden age of transplant medicine. New surgical techniques have made reattaching delicate structures easier, and powerful new drugs can all but eliminate the threat of rejection. In addition to hearts, livers, kidneys, and lungs, doctors can now transplant uteruses, voice boxes, tongues, penises, hands, and faces. Those last two are especially impressive considering all the tissues involved: muscle, skin, bone, tendons, cartilage, nerves, blood vessels. Ren sees head transplants as the logical next frontier. [The Atlantic]
But who would ever volunteer to be the first human head transplant? Someone whose options are running out, and fast. Read about who that might be, as well as the surgeons' research for the project, over at The Atlantic.
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