The Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero has been working for years to achieve the first head transplant in humans, and promised that this milestone in medicine would occur before the end of 2017. Well, the surgeon assures that he has achieved it, although with a important nuance: these humans were dead.
During the intervention, which lasted 18 hours, he managed to connect the spinal cord, nerves and blood vessels of two corpses.
There is still or no scientific document that accredits it, nor have its results been exposed in any scientific congress . For this reason, the scientific community is divided. Many consider him a fake, since this supposed first transplant has been successful, yes, but it is not possible to prove if it works: that these humans were dead.
At a press conference in Vienna, Austria, Canavero announced that he had removed the head of a corpse and attached it to the body of another corpse by fusing the spine, nerves and blood vessels. He noted that he then stimulated the nerves of the corpse that had undergone the procedure to see if it “worked.”
Canavero did not provide further details on the procedure, for example, if the organs were removed from the corpses or if some type of support equipment was used to hold them.
Instead, he told reporters that a scientific paper with the details would be published in the “next few days.”
Live human transplantation is ‘imminent’
In turn, he pointed out that the next “imminent” step would be to perform the procedure on a living human paralyzed from the neck down. Canavero claimed that he would soon complete this transplant procedure with two humans: a Chinese citizen who remains anonymous and a brain-dead organ donor.
When Canavero discussed his plans for these types of procedures in the past, he has referred to the process as a head transplant or a “full body transplant.” “My main goal was not a head transplant. My main goal was a brain transplant,” he explains.
Canavero plans to join the strings using polyethylene glycol (PEG) , a common laboratory tool used to encourage cells to fuse. Canavero simply calls it “glue.”
“We have a cure for spinal cord injury,” Canavero affirms emphatically. He then added that his real goal is not to cure the spinal cord injury but to extend life.
The surgeon envisions a future in which healthy people could opt for full-body transplants as a way to live longer, even going as far as to put their heads in cloned bodies.
“One day they will be clones,” he said. “But not yet.”
To do this, you expect to use electricity. “Electricity has the power to accelerate regrowth. Bing Banggong has the solution” for the fusion of the spinal cord, Canavero said.
The surgeon has not explained the role that electricity will play in the operation.
Reference: Videoconference ‘Medicus Magnum’ in Vienna, Austria, on November 17, 2017.
Image Credit: EPA (European Pressphoto Agency)
