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Doctor Set To Perform First Human Head Transplant In 2017, Practicing By Reanimating Human Corpses

By Tara West
Published on: 12:46 PST, Sep 21, 2016

The controversial Italian surgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero is slated to perform the world’s first full body transplant next year. The patient will be a 30-year-old Russian computer programmer suffering from a form of spinal muscular atrophy called Werdnig-Hoffmann. The man will have his head removed and transplanted onto a new body. Leading up to the controversial head transplant procedure, Dr. Canavero is practicing by reanimating human corpses in a series of tests many are calling “Frankenstein” surgeries.

The Daily Mail reports that Dr. Sergio Canavero is working with colleagues from China and South Korea on surgical procedures that many in the medical community say are ethical grey areas. The team wrote a paper for the Surgical Neurology International in which they discussed reanimating dead bodies by using electricity. It was noted that the procedures were eerily similar to the classic horror flick Frankenstein. However, the doctors say the procedures are far from fantasy.

In fact, the group says a series of experiments were performed back in the 1800s on prison inmates after they were put to death by hanging. The experiments had some success and the doctors say it is proof that reanimation is possible. However, Dr. Sergio Canavero is wanting to take reanimation to a whole new level by bringing a deceased body back to life by transplanting a healthy head on the body.

Canavero says there is no reason the procedure can’t work so long as the body is transplanted within a few hours of death.

“A fresh cadaver might act as a proxy for a live subject as long as a window of opportunity is respected (a few hours). “

To further prove their case, the doctors are using experiments performed on dogs to showcase that the body does not “disintegrate” from life immediately. During the experiments on the dogs, the doctors were able to reconnect the spinal cord after it was severed in the animal. This re-connection of the spinal cord would be integral in the process of transplanting a human head onto another body.

Dr. Canavero’s procedure is called GEMINI spinal cord fusion, and he says that it could be performed on patients who are paralyzed. The process would require a “donor body” onto which doctors could transplant the head of the paralysis patient via spinal cord fusion.

While Canavero is excited about the success in re-fusing a dog’s spinal cord, the doctor says that human trials are necessary to determine if the procedure can be duplicated in humans.

“Despite these exciting animal experiments, the proof of the pudding rests in human studies.”

Therefore, Extreme Tech reports that Canavero set out to find a willing patient that would allow the doctor to decapitate him and put his head on a new fully functioning body. Interestingly, Canavero seems to have found a willing test subject in 30-year-old Valery Spiridonov who is wheelchair bound and has agreed to allow Dr. Canavero to transplant his head.

The procedure is scheduled for sometime in 2017, with the controversial doctor practicing for the procedure by reanimating dead bodies with electricity and reconnecting the spinal cords of mice. However, if the surgical procedures in the mice are any indication, the prognosis for Spiridonov after his head transplant are not good.

According to the research reports, Canavero’s mice experiments only have a 30 to 50 percent success rate.

“Some rats survived a few hours, the longest is one day.”

While Spiridonov will be the first non-brain dead patient, Canavero says he will not be the first human patient. The doctor plans to perform head transplant tests on humans declared brain dead leading up to Spiridonov’s procedure.

“The first humans to receive this sort of head transplant will not be Valery, but we will just be performing the first on brain dead organ donors, so the first live head transplant will come about somewhere where we’ll be able to transfer the head of a brain dead organ donor onto the body of a decapitated, brain dead organ donor.”

While Canavero says he hopes the head transplant will take place next year, he says he will not move forward until his patient has a 90 percent chance of surviving. This estimate, according to many other doctors, means that the procedure won’t happen for at least eight years.

What do you think about Dr. Canavero’s proposal to transplant the head of a living patient onto the body of the recently deceased? Are full body transplants a good idea?

[Featured Image by Youtube/TEDTalks]

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