'Dr Frankenstein' ready to perform first head transplant by 2017
A controversial surgeon is preparing to carry out the first ever whole head transplant by the end of 2017 after "successful" experiments on monkeys and mice.
Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero introduced the strategy in 2013 and has been touting his experiments since.
In 2015, the 51-year-old presented at the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons’s 39th annual conference, where his speech about the ambitious procedure served as the keynote talk.
Earlier this year, Dr Canavero told New Scientist he had been conducting a series of experiments on animals and human cadavers with the help of scientists in China and South Korea.
“I would say we have plenty of data to go on,” Dr Canavero said.
“It’s important that people stop thinking this is impossible."
Dr Canavero is working with Xiaoping Ren from Harbin Medical University in China.
According to the publication, Mr Ren has already performed a monkey head transplant and more than 1000 head transplants on mice.
Dr Canavero's first patient is Russian program manager, Valery Spiridonov, who is suffering from the rare muscular atrophy disorder Werdnig-Hoffman disease.
The 31-year-old volunteered for the transplant and says that he’s willing to risk death to escape his disease.
His transplant will be done in a vegetative state and is set to take place at Harbin Medical University in China.
What happens during the procedure
The two-part procedure is composed of HEAVEN (head anastomosis venture) and Gemini (the subsequent spinal cord fusion).
The whole process involves 36 hours, 150 people (doctors, nurses, technicians, psychologists, and virtual reality engineers), and around $20 million.
According to Dr Canavero, there will be two surgical teams working on the Russian patient at the same time.
One will focus on the Mr Spiridonov, the living patient, while the other will focus on a donor’s body.
The donor will be brain-dead and selected based on height, build, and immunotype.
Both patients will be anesthetised and hooked up to breathing machines and electrodes to keep tabs on brain and heart activity.
Then, Mr Spiridonov will have his head nearly frozen — temporarily brain-dead himself.
At this point, attending physicians will drain the blood from his brain, and flush it with a surgery solution.
Tubes will be looped around major arteries and veins to stop blood flow, and then later removed to allow for circulation once the new body is attached.
Then, the most important part of all — cutting both spinal cords.
This will be done with a $200,000 diamond nanoblade, which comes from the University of Texas.
Once Mr Spiridonov’s head is no longer attached to his body, he’ll have to have a new body within one hour.
All the necessary arteries and veins will be reconnected, and theoretically, the new blood flow will re-warm Mr Spiridonov’s head.
From there, the spinal cord segments will be fused in yet another novel procedure, and all severed muscles and skin will be sewn back together as well.
If all goes according to plan, Mr Spiridonov could be up and walking three to six months after surgery.
“If he is going to die,” Dr Canavero says, “he is the only one who can decide.”
The procedure is currently slated to take place late next year and the patient could take 12 months to heal, if they ever do.
More research needs to be done
Marc Stevens, an orthopedic surgeon from Smithfield, North Carolina who attended the 2015 conference, said Dr Canavero's presentation was intriguing but more research should be done on healing spinal cord injuries instead of attempting a head transplant.
Jerry Silver, a Case Western Reserve University neurosciences professor, cautioned that spinal reconnection science touted by Dr Canavero was far from ready, noting the difficulties involved in reattaching the vagus nerve, which controls a variety of functions including digestion and heart rates.
At the end of his presentation, Dr Canavero asked his US peers for help - both with the science and the cash needed for the project.
"I did my homework and now I am asking you to help," he said.
"Let's suspend all judgment. What you have been taught is wrong.
"I need your help and I need your assistance. Be Americans," he added.
Likening his project to former president John F. Kennedy's Apollo mission to send men to the moon in the 1960s, he called on "billionaires like Bill Gates to give money for this project."
He has previously said he needed about AUD$134 million for his work.
