The head transplant aims to enable people suffering from degenerative diseases to have access to a healthy body, thus improving their quality of life.
So far, human head transplantation has not yet been performed, but there are already several people who are applying for transplantation. However, since the 1950s doctors and scientists have performed head transplants on animals such as dogs and monkeys, but the results have not been very satisfactory.
The main risk of head transplantation is the involvement of the spinal cord, since to perform the surgery it is necessary to interrupt the connection between the spinal cord and the head. For this reason, scientists have been studying substances and ways to reconstitute this binding and prevent the loss of movement in transplanted patients.
First head transplants
The first head transplant was performed on a puppy in the 1950s by a Soviet doctor. The doctor created a two-headed dog, that is, transplanted a dog's head into a completely healthy dog. The two-headed dog survived a few days after surgery. Some years later, an American doctor decided to transplant a monkey's head, but the animal's survival after surgery was very short, about a day and a half after the operation the monkey died.
In 2015 an Italian doctor said it was possible to perform a head transplant on humans, and that the first transplant would be performed by the end of 2017. The doctor also said that he had already performed a head transplant on cadavers and that it had been a success, however, because they are corpses, it is not possible to evaluate the possible consequences of head transplantation. Therefore, the neurosurgeon has been receiving several criticisms related to medical ethics.
How the transplant can be done
The head transplant proposed by the Italian physician has the support of Chinese doctors and scientists and is theoretically done with the aim of allowing people with degenerative diseases that cause muscle atrophy and impede movement, such as Werdnig-Hoffman syndrome, for example, to have a healthy body with no movement limitations. Learn more about Werdnig-Hoffman syndrome.
The head is transplanted into the body of a donor who has had brain death but is healthy. Both the head and the spinal cord of the donated body are frozen between -10 and -15 ° C to prevent death of the cells until they are re-attached by a given substance. In addition, the person should remain in an induced coma for 3 to 4 weeks to avoid any movement, and make use of immunosuppressive medication to avoid any kind of rejection and thus avoid death. After the induced coma, the person will need constant physiotherapy sessions so that he can relearn the movements.
According to the neurosurgeon, the transplant would cost millions of dollars, would require a team of about 150 doctors and would last around 36 hours.
Human head transplantation has not yet been performed, so it is still a theoretical procedure. However, there are several people who are applying for transplantation in order to improve their quality of life.
Risks of head transplantation
The greatest risk of head transplantation, besides death, is the definitive loss of movement, since to perform the operation it is necessary to interrupt the connection between the spinal cord and the brain. To avoid this risk, scientists have discovered a substance that is capable of acting as a glue, polyethylene glycol or PEG, and thus able to attach the brain to the spinal cord.
PEG has already been used in experiments on puppies, monkeys and rats that had the spinal cord compromised. These animals were treated with PEG and after 1 year were able to walk normally. However, PEG has not yet been used for this purpose in humans, and therefore it is not known whether this substance is capable of actually regenerating the connection between the spinal cord and the brain, which will be observed when head transplant is performed.
