Doctor seeks head transplant in 2 years
Surgeon Sergio Canavero says he wishes to help sufferers of degenerative diseases, but experts warn of fate worse than death
A Russian man suffering from a muscular degenerative disease has volunteered to become the world’s first head transplant patient, which his doctor says may be possible as soon as two years from now.
Valery Spiridonov, a 30-year-old computer scientist, suffers from Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, a rare case of spinal muscular atrophy. In his desperation to find a cure, he has turned to Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero, who believes the solution may be to give Spiridonov an entirely new body.
It may sound crazy, but Canavero believes the procedure — which he says would require a 36-hour operation and a medical staff of 150 people — could be doable in two years’ time.
But many experts doubt Canavero’s assertions that attaching a head to a new body is possible with today’s technology, calling the plan farcical. While semi-successful experiments were made on head transplants in monkeys in the 1970s, the subjects were paralyzed after the surgery and died within days.
Dr. Hunt Batjer, president-elect of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons, told CNN that while reattaching a persons spine, circulatory system and airway is feasible, the nervous system is a whole different story. The complexity of the nervous system, he said, would make the connection of one person’s head to another’s body a hellish experience.
Besides the real possibility of complete paralysis, experts warn the rejection of the head by a host body could be worse than anything previously seen. The different chemistries of two bodies could very well drive the patient insane.
Arthur Caplan, director of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center told CNN Canavero was engaged in a PR stunt and called the surgeon “nuts.”
Patients “would end up being overwhelmed with different pathways and chemistry than they are used to and they’d go crazy.”
Canavero has claimed that new research into certain fusogenic, or glue-like, substances would allow doctors to map out and reconnect the two nervous systems successfully. But Caplan notes that even if this were true, Canavero should then be focused on helping people with severed spines before jumping to head transplants.
Undaunted, Canavero says he is currently looking for a medical center that would host the procedure. He is hoping to find a partner in the US, and in June will present his plans for the surgery to the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons. If the US venture is unsuccessful, the Italian may turn his efforts to China.
“I would not wish this on anyone, I would not allow anyone to do it to me,” Batjer said. “There are a lot of things worse than death.”
The Times of Israel Community.