Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero gestures as he speaks during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, on Nov. 17. (Photo: EPA) 
  
 An Italian doctor announced Friday that he will soon perform the world’s first human head transplant in China because medical communities in the United States and Europe would not permit the controversial procedure. 
  
 "The Americans did not understand," Sergio Canavero told a news conference in Vienna. 
  
 Canavero said the Chinese government and Xiaoping Ren, a Chinese doctor partnering with him on the procedure, would confirm the surgery's date "within days" to signal its goal of becoming a world leader in all fields, including medicine. 
  
 "Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to restore China to greatness. He wants to make it the sole superpower in the world. I believe he is doing it," Canavero said. 
  
 In a phone interview with USA TODAY, Canavero decried the unwillingness of the U.S. or Europe to host the surgery. "No American medical institute or center would pursue this, and there is no will by the U.S. government to support it," he said. 
  
 Canavero would not divulge the identity of the Chinese donor or recipient. The donor will be the healthy body of a brain-dead patient matched for build with a recipient's disease-free head. 
  
 Canavero estimates the procedure will cost up to $100 million and involve several dozen surgeons and other specialists. 
  
 He will simultaneously sever the spinal cords of the donor and recipient with a diamond blade. To protect the recipient's brain from immediate death before it is attached to the body, it will be cooled to a state of deep hypothermia. 
  
 The recipient and donor will be in a sitting position to facilitate what's expected to be more than about 24 hours of laborious work to separate and then reconnect vertebral bones, jugular veins, the trachea, esophagus and other neck structures. Machines will help the recipient breathe, pumping blood through the body. The patient will be kept in a drug-induced coma for an unspecified recovery time. 
  
 Michael Sarr, a former surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the editor of the journal Surgery, said Canavero's procedure is radical. 
  
 Doctors "have always been taught that when you cut a nerve, the 'downstream side,' the part that takes a signal and conducts it to somewhere else, dies," he said. "The 'upstream side,' the part that generates the signal, dies back a little — a millimeter or two — and eventually regrows. As long as that 'downstream' channel is still there, it can regrow through that channel, but only for a length of about a foot." 
  
 This is why, he said, if you amputate your wrist and then re-implant it and line the nerves up well, you can recover function in your hand. But if your arm gets amputated at the shoulder, it won't be re-implanted because it will never lead to a functional hand. 
  
 "What Canavero will do differently is bathe the ends of the nerves in a solution that stabilizes the membranes and put them back together," Sarr said. "The nerves will be fused, but won't regrow. And he will do this not in the peripheral nerves such as you find in the arm, but in the spinal cord, where there's multiple types of nerve channels." 
  
 There has been some success using Canavero's proposed technique on mice and dogs. In one example, a dog walked after six weeks, albeit with an awkward gait. "Based on the classic thinking about how nerves regenerate it was unbelievable," Sarr said. 
  
 Canavero said his team has "rehearsed" his technique with human cadavers in China, but there are otherwise no known human trials. He said the 18-hour operation on two corpses showed it was possible to reconnect the spinal cord and blood vessels. Before the full transplant takes place, two brain-dead patients will undergo the surgery. 
  
 Most medical experts say it's a long shot, but even if the operation works the biggest obstacle may not be the science itself, but whether it should happen at all. 
  
 "There are too many risks at this point to go ahead with it," said Assya Pascalev, a biomedical ethicist at Howard University in Washington, D.C. "We don't have enough data with animal models, sufficient published and peer-reviewed results, and particularly data about morbidity and mortality on the animals that have had the procedure." 
  
 Pascalev said that any groundbreaking procedure is certain to face objections and skepticism, and requires a leap of faith. 
  
 "The first heart transplant, hand transplant, facial transplant: all were met with serious reservations," Pascalev said. "There are also regulatory concerns. China does not have the same ethical standards and requirements that the United States and Europe have." 
  
 She added that there were major unanswered questions about the recipient if the surgery succeeds, such as whether he or she would have legal rights to children produced by the new body. "It's not just about a head adjusting to a new body. We might be dealing with a whole new person." 
  
 Canavero dismissed these concerns. "Western bioethicists needed to stop patronizing the world," he said. He added that China's receptiveness to hosting the surgery reflected its determination to replace the U.S. as the world leader in all fields. 
  
 "Who sent America to the Moon? It was Wernher von Braun," he said, referring to the German immigrant who was an early rocket developer and space-exploration advocate for the U.S. 
  
 James Giordano, a professor of medicine and neurosciences at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, agreed with Pascalev that not enough rigorous study has been done to support a procedure with so many risks. 
  
 He said patients might be better served if Canavero focused on spinal reconstruction, not transplants. Yet he also gave him some credit for his pioneering work. 
  
 "He's run the ethical flag up the poles and said, 'Look, I'm not an ethicist, I'm a neurologist and this may be an avant-garde technique, I recognize there is a high possibility for failure, but this is the only way we can push the envelope and probe the cutting edge to determine what works, what doesn't and why.'" 
  
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2ANIl5p ||||| Scientists have carried out a head transplant on a human corpse, the neurosurgeon behind the operation has announced. 
  
 At a press conference in Vienna, Austria, Sergio Canavero said his team was able to remove the head from one body and connect it to the body of another by fusing the spine, nerves and blood vessels. He said the next step will be to carry out the operation on a living person, The Telegraph reports. 
  
 "The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done. A full head swap between brain dead organ donors is the next stage,” he said. "And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent.” 
  
 Canavero said a “high number” of people have volunteered to be his first head transplant patient. It is thought he will carry out the operation in China in December. 
  
 The Italian neurosurgeon did not present any evidence of his claims at the conference. Instead, he said a scientific paper with details of the procedure would be released in the “next few days.” 
  
 "For too long nature has dictated her rules to us,” he said. “We're born, we grow, we age and we die. For millions of years humans has evolved and 100 billion humans have died. That's genocide on a mass scale. We have entered an age where we will take our destiny back in our hands. It will change everything. It will change you at every level.” 
  
 Canavero said his team has managed to cut down the time of the operation to just 18 hours. "After several transplants, the first full rehearsal has taken place in China. The surgery lasted 18 hours. I mentioned in 2015 that it should take 36 hours, but the Chinese improved on that in a spectacular way, and the surgery was successful. 
  
 See all of the best photos of the week in these slideshows 
  
 "The next step is a full head transplant on brain dead organ donors and the first human head transplant for medical reasons will take place imminently. The date will come from Xiaoping in the next few days." 
  
 Since announcing his plan, Canavero has attracted a barrage of criticism. Most experts agree that his plan is not plausible—with most pointing out that with current technology, spinal cord fusion is not possible. 
  
 There are also major ethical concerns regarding the legality of such a procedure, and a worry that the operation will fail but the head will remain alive. 
  
 Jerry Silver, a professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, recently told Newsweek that technically the head could be attached to a respirator where it could remain alive for days in incredible pain. “Every muscle, the bones, everything has been severed,” he said. “Can you imagine the pain from all those cut things? That’s the worst. The head is going to wake up in pain.” 
  
 Canavero has remained defiant of his critics throughout, however. He told Newsweek that if the operation is a success—a likelihood he estimates to be around 90 percent—it would be a “tremendous revolution that you will not have seen for some time.” 
  
 “The surgery is long and tedious, but absolutely feasible,” he added. “One thing is certain. Spinal cord fusion is a reality and head transplants will happen.” ||||| Sergio Canavero claims he can make you immortal, but there’s a small catch. He first wants to chop off your head. 
  
  
  
 If that’s not a deal-breaker, you’ll be happy to hear that the Italian neurosurgeon has announced he will perform the world’s first human head transplant in China sometime in December. (He’s vague on details, possibly for security reasons.) He will remove the head of a patient—an unidentified Chinese national—and attach it to a donor body, origin (and cause of death) unknown. The spinal cord will be fused and the blood vessels and muscles attached. The patient—same head, new body—will be kept in a coma for around a month while he (or she?) heals. Canavero says that if successful, his patient will eventually be able to walk again. 
  
  
  
 If his plan sounds ludicrous, that’s because it is. Nobody knows how to fix a broken human spinal cord, and the scientific evidence that supports Canavero’s approach is highly questionable. Oh, and the ethics of performing an unproven procedure that jeopardizes one (or possibly two) human lives are sketchy, at best. 
  
 None of that deters Canavero, so hold on to your hats. 
  
 Paging Dr. Frankenstein 
  
 The human spinal cord is a long, thin tube of nerves that connects almost every part of the body to the brain. It is the pathway that allows the brain to give commands to the body, and the cells there are highly specialized—so much so that once damaged, they are effectively lost for good. Regenerating damaged spinal cord cells is extraordinarily difficult. 
  
 In the U.S., there are an estimated 12,500 spinal cord injuries every year, which is why Canavero is not the only scientist desperately trying to mend spinal cords. In the 1960s, renowned scientist L.W. Freeman experimented on rats, cats and dogs to find out if there were any circumstances under which spinal cords would repair themselves naturally. He removed small sections of spinal cords, then waited to see what would happen. Of the 66 animals that survived his surgery, six eventually regained what he deemed a “good” level of motor function. 
  
 That appeared to be an impressive achievement, but it did not necessarily apply to humans. The cut Freeman made was sharp and clean, but when humans injure their spinal cords, the tear is messy. Regardless, Canavero says Freeman’s work “shone light on the path,” inspiring him to delve deeper into lesser-known spinal cord research. 
  
 See all of the best photos of the week in these slideshows 
  
 He eventually found something else that excited him. After a skiing accident left a woman paralyzed in 2005—her spinal cord was completely severed—surgeons in the U.S. removed the damaged part and filled the gap with collagen, hoping the ends would fuse together naturally. A year and a half after the surgery, the woman could move her legs again. 
  
 Canavero decided this success, which defied medical dogma, demanded more research. “I had been taught spinal cord regeneration is not possible,” he says. “That was the proof that I had to accelerate the whole process.” 
  
 BruceBlaus/CC 
  
 The key, Canavero believes, is polyethylene glycol, or PEG, a type of gel that accelerates spinal cord fusion. He thinks that making a clean cut and then applying the gel would allow the spinal cords to fuse, rather than remaining frayed. That fusion would restore the pathway necessary for signals from the brain to reach the rest of the body. 
  
 He and other scientists on his team have released several papers that appear to show that his technique could work. In a study published in the Wiley journal CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics, rats regained the ability to walk 28 days after being paralyzed. In Canavero’s mind, once you have the spinal cord problem figured out, the rest of the operation is just a case of connecting tissues. 
  
 He decided his plan should at least be given a try, which is why he announced in 2013 that he was going to do the world’s first human head transplant. This did not go down well. The scientific community was outraged—fellow neurologists condemned him as a fame-hungry narcissist who should be put in jail if he performed the operation. One prominent surgeon, Hunt Batjer, from the University of Texas Southwestern, also said that whoever underwent the surgery faced a fate “worse than death.” 
  
 In theory, a disembodied head could survive in suspended animation, staying alive with blood from the donor body but incapable of controlling any bodily function—and in incredible pain, says Jerry Silver, a professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio who has spent his career seeking a cure for paralysis. The head will have a “miserable existence,” where it won’t be able to breathe or control its own heart rate—a fate far worse than being a quadriplegic. The head’s windpipe would be attached to a respirator, so it could be ventilated, and it could remain alive like that for days. 
  
  
  
 Scientists also ripped into the work Canavero cites as evidence supporting his approach. One study, by a team of South Korean scientists involved in Canavero’s project, drew considerable criticism for something published in the journal Surgical Neurology International (SNI). They had severed and re-fused the spinal cords of rats. Four of the animals drowned in a laboratory flood after the surgery. But instead of repeating the experiment, they concluded it was a success because the one surviving rat could move a bit. 
  
 This was one of a series of studies on head transplants published in SNI—a journal Canavero just happens to be the editor of. 
  
 Silver says the studies Canavero uses are not good enough because they used small numbers of animals, often with no control group. Plus, animal models supposedly showing fixed spinal cords do not justify doing the same with people. “You’re not going to jump from rodent to human,” he says, adding that Canavero’s head transplant plan is “criminal.” 
  
 CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics/Wiley/Peng-Wei Li et al 
  
  
  
 And regardless of whether these experiments lend support to Canavero’s theories, they are also disturbing. A rat with the head of another rat sewn onto its back or an unconscious monkey with Halloween-esque neck stitches is outside the bounds of acceptable scientific inquiry and threatens to turn Canavero into a Dr. Frankenstein figure creating monsters under the guise of scientific research. 
  
 Karen Rommelfanger, neuroethics program director at Emory University Center for Ethics in Georgia, raises one other intriguing caveat: the possibility that this operation is a sanitized version of murder. “If you still have a brain that’s alive...then to take that head off and take the body away, are we possibly killing someone?” she says. 
  
 Darren Ó hAilín, a doctoral molecular medicine student in Germany at University Medical Center Freiburg, says human head transplants are a very long way off, and that Canavero and his researchers are offering “disparate pieces of the puzzle and creating the illusion of a cohesive plan.” In reality, all we have as of now are “a mishmash of preliminary experiments.” 
  
 Instead of patiently and meticulously building on their findings, says Ó hAilín, Canavero is charging ahead. “He’s going directly to the press with pictures of a monkey’s head stitched into a monkey’s body and saying, ‘Here, we did it.’” 
  
  
  
 Canavero objects to the notion that past studies have lacked a control, a group of patients who did not receive the experimental treatment, so the results can be compared. He contends that only one of the studies lacked a control group, and that in that case, it wasn’t necessary. He and his team severed the spinal cord of a dog, which subsequently appeared to regain some movement. As a single case study, it provides proof (in Canavero’s eyes) that the spinal cord can be re-fused. 
  
 Kim et al/SNI 
  
 He sees his work as akin to the Wright brothers finally taking to the air for the first time. “It was just one plane, but it was enough to prove flight was possible,” he says. The dog, says Canavero, is like his first plane. 
  
  
  
 Two Heads Better Than One? 
  
 Canavero has at least one kindred spirit: Xiaoping Ren, from Harbin Medical University, in China. He will assist Canavero with the operation in December. Ren has performed thousands of head transplants on mice. The pair connected after Canavero published his human head transplant plan. “It was like falling in love,” Canavero says, describing their first meeting. “Two minds from such a distance that wanted to do the same thing. It was incredible.” 
  
 Now, they will have a chance to work together on their shared dream. 
  
 Canavero says the people who want this operation are willing to risk everything because they have nothing left to lose—they have no quality of life and are, in all likelihood, dying a slow and painful death. If the transplant fails, then at least they will die knowing that no effort to save them was spared. If it succeeds—well, then they have made medical history. And, of course, are still alive. 
  
 OOOM-Sergio Canavero 
  
  
  
 Silver objects to the notion that Canavero is giving someone a last chance at life. The memory of a monkey head transplant he witnessed as a postdoctoral student and the knowledge of what the patient could be facing is too much to overcome. “It looked horrifying,” he says of the monkey, “and in pain.” Even if Canavero were able to get some of the nerve and sensory fibers to fuse, says Silver, the pain could be unbearable. 
  
 “Every muscle, the bones, everything has been severed,” says Silver. “Can you imagine the pain from all those cut things? That’s the worst. The head is going to wake up in pain.” 
  
  
  
 Even if Canavero manages to connect the two ends of the spinal cord, the brain will not be able to take control of a new body, Ó hAilín explains. Although it’s true that our brains constantly rewire from the day we are born to the day we die, expecting a brain to adjust its wiring to a whole new body is wishful thinking. “What happens if those wires don’t connect?” says Ó hAilín. 
  
  
  
 Doctors also fear how the body will react to its new brain. In any transplant, the body sees the new organ or limb as foreign tissue, and the immune system attacks it. Patients who have a transplant have to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent this rejection. And if the immune system attacks the new part despite the drugs, it has to be removed. 
  
 Canavero dismisses this problem, certain that a rejection of the head can be managed in the same way as a kidney or heart. But there is no evidence that immunosuppressants can overcome a body’s reflexive rejection of a new brain. 
  
  
  
 There is also a potentially staggering psychological impact. The brain may not be able to accept its new body, a phenomenon seen with other transplant surgeries. Clint Hallam, the world’s first hand transplant patient, had it removed after becoming “mentally detached” from it—he could not see it as part of his own body. 
  
 GERARD MALIE/AFP/Getty Images 
  
  
  
 None of this concerns Canavero. He believes that if his patient survives the operation, they can deal with any subsequent issues as they arise. In the 1960s, Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant, doing several things that today would probably be considered unethical—technically speaking, the donors he was removing beating hearts from may not have been dead. Barnard also had to have known some people would die as a result of his operation, but he proceeded anyway, and now, heart transplants are a common—and lifesaving—procedure. 
  
 Canavero is aware of the danger and places some responsibility with the patient, who has volunteered. “Let’s not be stupid—this is a risky surgery. But informed consent means that whoever goes under [my knife] knows full well what lies ahead and is in such a crippling condition that there is no other strategy for them.” 
  
 He also points out that uncertainty is part of medical advances. Gene editing and immunotherapy techniques currently being developed also come with risks, Canavero points out. One immunotherapy trial had to be put on hold last year following the death of three patients. 
  
 Canavero sees his forthcoming operation as a boon for not just people in need of spinal cord surgery but all humanity. Medicine, he says, has failed us. Despite all our best research efforts, we still haven’t got a cure for cancer, HIV, malaria and countless other fatal conditions. Breakthroughs, he believes, will come only by taking risks. 
  
 If successful, the operation would provide a treatment option for people with quadriplegia or muscle-wasting diseases that leave them incapable of moving. A body riddled with cancer could be replaced, for example. The most radical possibility is that transplanting heads could lead to a form of immortality—swapping an old body for a new one whenever it’s required, like changing tires on a car. 
  
 The many issues relating to Canavero’s plan remain unresolved (to put it mildly), but his team is planning to perform the operation in December. If it succeeds, Canavero will become a giant in the history of medical research. 
  
 And if the operation fails, he will try again. He knows that’s the only way to get ahead. ||||| PHOTOS PIERO MARTINELLO I GUARDIAN 
  
 (Für die deutsche Version des Artikels klicken Sie bitte hier) 
  
 Four years ago, his announcement was featured in all global media outlets: Prof. Sergio Canavero, renowned neurosurgeon from Turin, is planning the world’s first transplantation of a human head. The subsequent outcry resonated loudly throughout the medical community: many experts agreed that such an undertaking would never be successful, much less at any point within the next few decades. However, together with various teams in the US, China and South Korea, the author of more than 140 scientific publications continued to pursue the plan he called HEAVEN (Head Anastomosis Venture). In his GEMINI protocol, Canavero outlines every necessary step of the procedure in detail, laid out like in an instruction manual. Whereas the media covered his project in thousands of features published and broadcast around the globe from CNN to the New York Times, from the Independent to the Guardian, Sergio Canavero reached one milestone after another. In an exclusive interview with OOOM, the medical pioneer now reveals, for the first time, facts about a procedure that may not only fundamentally change medicine but also the lives of millions of people in wheelchairs: 
  
 The world’s first human head transplant will be performed within the next ten months. 
  
 The procedure will be performed in China. 
  
 Experienced surgeon Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University, a close friend of Canavero, will lead the surgical team performing the head transplant. He previously was part of the surgery team in the first hand transplantation in the US. 
  
 The first head transplant patient will not be Russian Valery Spiridonov but a Chinese citizen. 
  
 There are already potential candidates for the operation. 
  
 Meanwhile, Prof. Canavero is already planning his next coup: the world’s first brain transplant, slated to take place in three years at the latest. He has already started to assemble a team for the procedure. 
  
 For this purpose, the creation of the first life-extension institute is already in planning – a facility in which such procedures could be conducted in the future. 
  
 Incredible results. Xiaoping Ren will announce the exact schedule for the head transplant procedure in a special press conference in China in the next two months. Many experiments have already been conducted and, according to Prof. Canavero, have yielded “incredible results, which will change the course of medicine.” Dr. Ren will publish his findings in leading medical journals in the near future. The world’s first head transplant reportedly poses far fewer surgical and medical obstacles than previously assumed. The duration of the procedure will allegedly be significantly shorter than 72 hours. “I can only congratulate my friend and colleague Xiaoping Ren; his accomplishment is a masterstroke,” says Canavero. In an exclusive interview with OOOM personally authorized by Prof. Canavero, he states – for the first time – the facts of the groundbreaking procedure. 
  
 XIAOPING REN. THIS SURGEON WILL LEAD THE FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT PROCEDURE. 
  
 Professor Canavero, four months ago, the New York Time announced in a five-line paragraph that the world’s first head transplant would be conducted in December 2017 in the Chinese city Harbin. So far, this has not been confirmed. Are these reports correct? 
  
 Yes, they are correct. The world’s first human head transplant will be conducted in less than ten months. The Chinese team of doctors is led on site by Dr. Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University, a close friend of mine and an extraordinarily capable surgeon. The operation will be conducted in Harbin. 
  
 What can you tell us concretely about the operation? 
  
 At present, nothing in detail. When the time comes, the official news will be announced by Xiaoping’s team in China. At the moment, I can only disclose that there has been massive progress in medical experiments that would have seemed impossible even as recently as a few months ago. The milestones that have been reached will undoubtedly revolutionize medicine. That much I can already say. We have just submitted the results of these studies for publication to renowned scientific medical journals, so we do not wish to preempt the upcoming publication. 
  
 If the world’s first head transplant will take place in China, then the Russian candidate Valery Spiridonov will not be the first patient on whom the operation will be conducted. 
  
 That is correct. The first patient will be Chinese. 
  
 THE NEW OOOM ISSUE 05/2017 
  
 Read the spring edition of OOOM for free online. ||||| Updated | Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero has announced further details about the plan to carry out the world’s first head transplant surgery. In a turn of events, the operation will no longer be performed on Valery Spiridonov, a Russian man suffering from the muscle-wasting Werdnig-Hoffman's disease, with whom Canavero has been working for almost two years. 
  
 Instead, the operation will take place in China on a currently unselected Chinese national. A news release put out Thursday by OOOM, the media company handling Canavero’s press announced that Spiridonov, “who for a long period was considered for being the first transplant patient, will not be the first person whose head will receive a new body.” 
  
 It was unclear why Spiridonov was no longer involved. Georg Kindel, publisher & editor-in-chief of OOOM, tells Newsweek it was simply about where the surgery will be taking place. “Because the head transplant will be conducted in China it’s much easier to get a Chinese donor,” he says. “That’s the main reason. I’m not sure if Professor Canavero has talked to Valery in the meantime. I don’t know the reaction of Valery. However, if the head transplantation succeeds—and we all hope and are confident that it will succeed—then it will not be the last, so it will only be a question of time when Valery will get a new body.” 
  
 Canavero, in an interview with OOOM, said the first human head transplant will take place within 10 months. He did not specify a date for the surgery, but Kindel said the team is on track to carry it out at the end of the year: “They have a tight schedule but the team in China say they are ready to do it. Professor Canavero always said we will be ready at the end of 2017 and—if there is a strong power in China behind the project — it seems it definitely will be at the end of this year or the start of next year that the entire procedure will be conducted.” 
  
 At present, Canavero and Xiaoping Ren, of the Harbin Medical University in China, have presented little evidence to convince the scientific community their plan will be a success. Canavero previously has provided a brief outline of what they intend to do, but with relatively little detail of the steps involved. Research outlining experiments on animals have also failed to convince critics, many of whom say we are nowhere near having the technology required to undertake such a complex procedure. 
  
 In the press release, Canavero said they have several papers relating to head transplants that are currently under peer review and will appear in “renowned scientific medical journals”—although he did not specify which journals. “I can only disclose that there has been massive progress in medical experiments, which would have seemed impossible even as recently as a few months ago,” he said. “The milestones we have reached will undoubtedly revolutionize medicine.” 
  
 Asked about why Canavero and Ren are keeping their research such a closely guarded secret—something they have been criticized for in the past—Kindel said it is to do with the technologies they are developing: “Are these procedures that can be patented? If this is the case then it will be done,” he says. “It’s the same as with pharmaceutical companies. They conduct research for years and don’t publish anything, then at a certain stage they go out and inform the media and public.” 
  
 See all of the best photos of the week in these slideshows 
  
 Responding to criticism from other scientists, he added: “There are so-called experts who have no experience because they have never done this before. They say ‘no this will never happen.’ Canavero has just one goal—he says ‘I work on it. We have the scientists, the experts, the teams in the U.S., South Korea and China working it and when we are ready to inform the public, we will do it.’” 
  
 Several people working in the field have also criticized the scientists on the basis that if they have the technology to repair spinal cords—one of the key parts of the surgery—then they should be developing this to treat people who are paralyzed, instead of holding it back for a surgery many believe will not work. 
  
 “[Repairing the spinal cord] was part of the entire research for the head transplantation,” Kindel says. “At the beginning they were just trying their technique and thought, well maybe it works—but it does work. It was astonishing for the entire team. It’s just part of the entire process. And if it is the case they can help tetraplegics and paraplegics, then this is really a huge step forward in medicine.” 
  
 Kindel said he and the team know of no legal restrictions or regulations that would prevent them from carrying out the surgery. In China, surgeons are now waiting for journals to approve the studies they have submitted—after which point the findings will become public.“This is something that is completely new and could change medicine,” he says. “If this works—and all the studies seem to show it will work—then this is really a major step forward for medicine in general.” 
  
 Correction: This article previously referred to Michael Sarr, editor of the journal Surgery, as a neurosurgeon when he is a surgeon. The interviewee also referred to quotes previously made by Sarr which were incorrect. All references to Sarr have now been removed. ||||| The world's first human head transplant has allegedly been performed on a corpse in an 18 hour operation which successfully connected the spine, nerves and blood vessels of two people. 
  
 The operation was carried out by a team led by Dr Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University, China, who last year successfully grafted a head onto the body of a monkey. 
  
 Italian Professor Sergio Canavero, Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, who has been working with the team, said they would 'imminently' move onto a living human who was paralysed from the neck down. 
  
 He told The Telegraph that electrical stimulation of the nerves proved the operation on the corpse had been successful, and that the... ||||| Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero is in the news again, claiming to have performed the first successful human head transplant . But even cursory analysis reveals that he hasn’t. And scientific logic suggests he never will 
  
 In February 2015, Sergio Canavero appeared in this very publication claiming a live human head will be successfully transplanted onto a donor human body within two years. He’s popped up in the media a lot since then, but two years and nine months later, how are things looking? 
  
 Well, he’s only gone and done it! As we can see in this Telegraph story from today, the world’s first human head transplant has been successfully carried out. Guess all those more timid neurobods who said it couldn’t be done (myself included) are feeling pretty foolish right now, eh? 
  
 Well, not quite. Because if you look past the triumphant and shocking headlines, the truth of the matter becomes very clear, very quickly. In the interest of full disclosure, I do not know Dr Sergio Canavero, he’s done nothing to me directly that I’m aware of. However, I’m now seriously doubting his motivations. I’ve discussed my reasons for this elsewhere before now, but here they are again in one place for ease of reading. 
  
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Even the fictional Dr Frankenstein had a better success rate. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images 
  
 These “successful” procedures are anything but 
  
 Many of Canavero’s previous appearances in the media have been accompanied by claims of successful head transplant procedures. But, how are we defining “successful” here? Canavero’s definition seems to be extremely “generous” at best. 
  
 For instance, he recently claimed to have “successfully” performed a head transplant on a monkey. But did he? While the monkey head did apparently survive the procedure, it never regained consciousness, it was only kept alive for 20 hours for “ethical reasons” and there was no attempt made at connecting the spinal cord, so even if the monkey had survived long-term it would have been paralysed for life. So, it was a successful procedure, if you consider paralysis, lack of consciousness and a lifespan of less than a day as indicators of “success”. 
  
 There was also his “successful” rat head transplant, which involved grafting a severed rat head onto a different rat, a living one that still had its head. Exactly how this counts as a “transplant” is anyone’s guess. It’s adding a (functionally useless) appendage onto an otherwise healthy subject. 
  
 And this recent successful human head transplant? It was on corpses! Call me a perfectionist if you must, but I genuinely think that any surgical procedure where the patients or subjects die before it even starts is really stretching the definition of “success” to breaking point. Maybe the procedure did make a good show of “attaching” the nerves and blood vessels on the broad scale, but, so what? That’s just the start of what’s required for a working bodily system. There’s still a way to go. You can weld two halves of different cars together and call it a success if you like, but if the moment you turn the key in the ignition the whole thing explodes, most would be hard pressed to back you up on your brilliance. 
  
 Perhaps the techniques used to preserve the heads and attach them have some scientific value, but it’s still a far cry from the idea of someone wandering around with a fully functional body that isn’t the one they were born with. Canavero seems to have a habit of claiming barnstorming triumph based on negligible achievements, or even after making things much worse. He seems to be the neurosurgical equivalent of the UK Brexit negotiating team. 
  
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest You’d expect copious details when it comes to performing a successful head transplant. Thus far, they’re strangely absent. Photograph: Alamy 
  
 The crucial details are strangely overlooked 
  
 The human body is not modular. You can’t swap bits around like you would Lego blocks, take a brick from castle and put it onto a pirate ship and have it work fine. There are copious obstacles to contend with when linking a head to body, even when they’re the same person’s. Doctors have, in recent years, “reattached” a severely damaged spinal cord in a young child, but the key-word is “damaged”, not “completely severed”; there’s enough connection still to work with, to repair and reinforce. And this is with a young child, with a still-developing nervous system better able to compensate. Even taking all this into account, and the advanced state of modern medicine, the successful procedure was considered borderline miraculous. 
  
 So, to attach a completely severed spinal cord, a fully developed adult one, onto a different one, one that’s maybe been dead for days? That’s, what, at least four further miracles required? And that’s not to take into account immune rejection, the fact that we don’t really know how to “fix” damaged nerves yet (let alone connect two unfamiliar halves) and the issue that everyone’s brain develops in tune with their body. The latter point means the “interface” between the two is relatively unique. You put the head of musician on the body of a builder, it may well prove to be like trying to play an Xbox game on a PlayStation. Except, infinitely more traumatic. 
  
 We don’t know for certain of course, because nobody has ever tried it. Canavero seems convinced he can do it, but thus far he’s offered no feasible explanation or science for his claims to be able to overcome these hurdles, beyond some token stuff about preserving tissues and ensuring blood supply during procedures. That’s a bit like someone claiming they can build a working fusion reactor and, when asked how, explains how they’re going to plumb in the toilets for the technicians. Arguably a useful step, but clearly not the main issue here. 
  
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest TED Talks. Slick, inspiring, interesting, not exactly peer-reviewed. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo 
  
 Hype before substance 
  
 I’ve said this before, even in a Wired article about Canavero’s previous claims, to the extent where I am considering trademarking it as “Burnett’s law”. Simply put; if someone’s making grand scientific claims but hasn’t provided robust evidence for them, yet they have done a TED talk, alarm bells should be ringing. 
  
 I don’t know what Canavero’s confidence is based on. Nobody seems to. He hasn’t published anything that would warrant it thus far. Note his recent “successful” human head transplant claims, which you can read about in the Telegraph before he’s published the actual results, as stated in the article. 
  
 Why do that? Why tell the newspapers before you tell your peers? If your procedure is rigorous and reliable enough, the data should reflect that. When scientists, particularly self-styled “mavericks”, court publicity but desperately avoid scrutiny, that’s never an encouraging sign. 
  
 Going by the Telegraph article, Canavero claims that the next step will be to attempt a transplant with someone in a vegetative state or similar. He also claims to have plenty of volunteers for this. Exactly how coma patients actively volunteered for this radical procedure is anyone’s guess. 
  
 There’s no mention yet of attempting it in a conscious person, despite there being actual volunteers for that. I strongly suspect there never will be. Trying it with a conscious, thinking person means it absolutely has to be 100% effective for them to remain in this state after the transplant is done. This would mean finding workable solutions to all the considerable obstacles presented by the very concept of a head transplant. 
  
 If I’m wrong about this then I’ll gladly take back everything and apologise, but nothing Canavero has said or done thus far leads me to think he has any idea about how to do this. 
  
 Dean Burnett is fully aware that the procedure should logically be called a “body transplant” but that’s not how it’s usually described, so has used the more common terms. His book The Idiot Brain is available now, in the UK and US and elsewhere. 
  
  
  
  
  
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Write a summary.
– The first step in what USA Today says would be an "audacious" therapy reportedly took place in China Friday: the world's first human head transplant, achieved with two corpses. And Sergio Canavero—the Italian doctor behind the alleged procedure, says he plans to do the same thing next on two brain-dead patients, followed by an "imminent" surgery with a living one, the Telegraph reports. Per Newsweek, Canavero described the procedure Friday at a Vienna press conference, explaining that his team had taken the head off one body and placed it on another, fusing the spine, blood vessels, and nerves. The procedure with a living patient is set to happen in China in December, mainly because the US and Europe refuse to host it. Medical experts say there haven't been enough studies or trials, and cite both ethical issues and the potential for "incredible pain." Mystery surrounds the living patient at the center of the storm, whose healthy head would be transferred to the disease-free body of a brain-dead patient—technically making this a "body transplant," not a head transplant, USA Today notes. That recipient was originally said to be 33-year-old Russian Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from a muscle-wasting disease. But an April release cited by Newsweek said a Chinese citizen would undergo the procedure, not Spiridonov, and the magazine on Friday quoted Canavero as saying a "high number" of people have volunteered. Canavero gives the procedure a 90% chance of success. Meanwhile, a Guardian columnist takes issue with Canavero's work. "The human body is not modular," writes Dean Burnett. "You can't swap bits around like you would Lego blocks." (Canavero, way back when this all started.)
Den italienske neurokirurgen Sergio Canavero ger gester när han talar under en nyhetskonferens i Wien i Österrike den 17 november. (Foto: EPA) En italiensk läkare meddelade fredag att han snart kommer att utföra världens första mänskliga huvudtransplantation i Kina eftersom medicinska samhällen i USA och Europa inte skulle tillåta den kontroversiella förfarandet. "Amerikanerna förstod inte", berättade Sergio Canavero för en nyhetskonferens i Wien. Canavero sa att den kinesiska regeringen och Xiaoping Ren, en kinesisk läkare som samarbetar med honom på proceduren, skulle bekräfta operationens datum "inom några dagar" för att signalera sitt mål att bli en världsledande inom alla områden, inklusive medicin. "Den kinesiske presidenten Xi Jinping vill återupprätta Kina till storhet. Han vill göra den till världens enda superkraft. Jag tror att han gör det," sade Canavero. I en telefonintervju med USA IDAG fördömde Canavero USA:s eller Europas ovilja att stå värd för operationen. "Inget amerikanskt medicinskt institut eller center skulle fullfölja detta, och det finns ingen vilja från den amerikanska regeringen att stödja det", sade han. Canavero skulle inte avslöja identiteten på den kinesiska donatorn eller mottagaren. Donatorn kommer att vara den friska kroppen av en hjärndöd patient matchas för bygga med en mottagares sjukdomsfria huvud. Canavero uppskattar att proceduren kommer att kosta upp till 100 miljoner dollar och involvera flera dussin kirurger och andra specialister. Han kommer samtidigt att skära av donatorns och mottagarens ryggmärgar med ett diamantblad. För att skydda mottagarens hjärna från omedelbar död innan den fästs vid kroppen kommer den att kylas till ett tillstånd av djup hypotermi. Mottagaren och donatorn kommer att vara i en sittande position för att underlätta vad som förväntas vara mer än cirka 24 timmars mödosamt arbete för att separera och sedan återknyta kotben, halsvener, luftstrupe, matstrupe och andra halsstrukturer. Maskiner hjälper mottagaren att andas och pumpar blod genom kroppen. Patienten kommer att hållas i en läkemedelsinducerad koma under en ospecificerad återhämtningstid. Michael Sarr, en före detta kirurg vid Mayokliniken i Rochester, Minn., och redaktören för tidskriften Kirurgi, sade Canavero procedur är radikal. Läkare "har alltid fått lära sig att när man skär en nerv, 'nedströmssidan,' den del som tar en signal och leder den till någon annanstans, dör", sade han. "Den 'uppströmssidan', den del som alstrar signalen, dör tillbaka lite — en millimeter eller två — och så småningom dyker upp igen. Så länge som den där "nedströmskanalen" fortfarande finns kvar kan den returnera genom den kanalen, men bara för en längd på ungefär en fot." Det är därför, sade han, om man amputerar handleden och sedan omimplanterar den och radar upp nerverna väl, kan man återfå funktionen i handen. Men om din arm amputeras vid axeln, kommer den inte att omplanteras eftersom den aldrig kommer att leda till en funktionell hand. "Vad Canavero kommer att göra annorlunda är att bada nervernas ändar i en lösning som stabiliserar membranen och sätter ihop dem igen", sa Sarr. "Nerverna kommer att smältas, men de kommer inte att återfalla. Och han kommer inte att göra detta i perifera nerver som du hittar i armen, men i ryggmärgen, där det finns flera typer av nervkanaler." Det har gjorts vissa framgångar med hjälp av Canavero föreslagna teknik på möss och hundar. I ett exempel gick en hund efter sex veckor, om än med en tafatt gångart. "Baserat på det klassiska tänkandet om hur nerver regenerera det var otroligt", sa Sarr. Canavero sade att hans team "repeterat" hans teknik med mänskliga kadaver i Kina, men det finns annars inga kända mänskliga prövningar. Han sa att 18-timmarsoperationen på två lik visade att det var möjligt att återkoppla ryggmärgen och blodkärlen. Innan den fullständiga transplantationen äger rum kommer två hjärndöda patienter att genomgå operationen. De flesta medicinska experter säger att det är en chansning, men även om operationen fungerar det största hindret kanske inte är vetenskapen själv, men om det ska ske alls. "Det finns för många risker vid denna tidpunkt för att gå vidare med det", sade Assya Pascalev, en biomedicinsk etiker vid Howard University i Washington, D.C. "Vi har inte tillräckligt med data med djurmodeller, tillräckliga publicerade och peer-reviewed resultat, och särskilt data om sjuklighet och dödlighet på de djur som har haft ingreppet." Pascalev sade att varje banbrytande förfarande med säkerhet kommer att möta invändningar och skepticism, och kräver ett språng i tron. "Den första hjärttransplantationen, handtransplantationen, ansiktstransplantationen: alla möttes av allvarliga reservationer", sade Pascalev. "Det finns också problem med lagstiftningen. Kina har inte samma etiska normer och krav som USA och Europa har." Hon tillade att det fanns stora obesvarade frågor om mottagaren om operationen lyckas, till exempel om han eller hon skulle ha laglig rätt till barn som produceras av den nya kroppen. "Det handlar inte bara om ett huvud som anpassar sig till en ny kropp. Vi kanske har att göra med en helt ny människa." Canavero avfärdade dessa farhågor. "Västra bioetiker behövde sluta nedvärdera världen", sade han. Han tillade att Kinas mottaglighet för att vara värd för operationen återspeglade dess beslutsamhet att ersätta USA som världsledande inom alla områden. "Vem skickade Amerika till månen? Det var Wernher von Braun," sade han, med hänvisning till den tyska invandraren som var en tidig raketutvecklare och rymdexploration förespråkare för den amerikanska James Giordano, en professor i medicin och neurovetenskap vid Georgetown University Medical Center i Washington, överens med Pascalev att inte tillräckligt rigorösa studier har gjorts för att stödja en procedur med så många risker. Han sa att patienter kunde få bättre service om Canavero fokuserade på spinal rekonstruktion, inte transplantationer. Men han gav honom också en viss ära för sitt pionjärarbete. "Han har kört den etiska flaggan upp på polerna och sa, 'Se, jag är inte en etiker, jag är en neurolog och detta kan vara en avant-garde teknik, jag inser att det finns en hög risk för misslyckande, men detta är det enda sättet vi kan skjuta kuvertet och sondera fram kanten för att avgöra vad som fungerar, vad som inte och varför.'" Läs eller dela denna historia: https://usat.ly/2ANIl5p <unk> Forskare har genomfört en huvudtransplantation på ett människolik, neurokirurgen bakom operationen har meddelat. På en presskonferens i Wien, Österrike, sade Sergio Canavero att hans team kunde ta bort huvudet från en kropp och ansluta det till kroppen av en annan genom att blanda ryggraden, nerver och blodkärl. Han sade att nästa steg blir att genomföra operationen på en levande person, rapporterar The Telegraph. "Den första mänskliga transplantationen på människokadaver har gjorts. Ett fullständigt huvudbyte mellan hjärndöda organdonatorer är nästa steg,” sade han. "Och det är det sista steget för den formella huvudtransplantationen för ett medicinskt tillstånd som är nära förestående." Canavero sade ett "högt antal" människor har frivilligt att vara hans första huvudtransplantationspatient. Man tror att han kommer att genomföra operationen i Kina i december. Den italienska neurokirurgen lade inte fram några bevis för sina påståenden vid konferensen. I stället sade han att en vetenskaplig uppsats med detaljer om förfarandet skulle släppas inom de närmaste dagarna. "Alltför länge har naturen dikterat hennes regler för oss", sade han. "Vi föds, växer, åldras och dör. I miljontals år har människor utvecklats och 100 miljarder människor har dött. Det är folkmord i stor skala. Vi har gått in i en tidsålder där vi kommer att ta vårt öde tillbaka i våra händer. Det kommer att förändra allt. Det kommer att förändra dig på varje nivå. "Canavero sade hans team har lyckats skära ner tiden för operationen till bara 18 timmar. "Efter flera transplantationer har den första fullständiga repetitionen ägt rum i Kina. Operationen varade i 18 timmar. Jag nämnde 2015 att det skulle ta 36 timmar, men kineserna förbättrade sig på det på ett spektakulärt sätt, och operationen var framgångsrik. Se alla veckans bästa bilder i dessa bildspel "Nästa steg är en full huvudtransplantation på hjärndöda organdonatorer och den första mänskliga huvudtransplantationen av medicinska skäl kommer att ske inom kort. Datumet kommer från Xiaoping de närmaste dagarna." Sedan Canavero tillkännagav sin plan har han dragit till sig en spärreld av kritik. De flesta experter är överens om att hans plan inte är rimlig – med de flesta påpeka att med nuvarande teknik, ryggmärg fusion är inte möjligt. Det finns också stora etiska farhågor om lagligheten av ett sådant förfarande, och en oro för att operationen kommer att misslyckas men huvudet kommer att förbli vid liv. Jerry Silver, professor i neurovetenskap vid Case Western Reserve University i Ohio, berättade nyligen för Newsweek att tekniskt sett kan huvudet fästas vid en respirator där det kan förbli vid liv i dagar i otrolig smärta. — Varje muskel, benen, allt har blivit avhugget, sade han. — Kan ni föreställa er smärtan av alla de där skärande sakerna? Det är det värsta. Huvudet kommer att vakna upp av smärta.” Canavero har dock förblivit trotsig mot sina kritiker hela tiden. Han sade till Newsweek att om operationen är en framgång – en sannolikhet han uppskattar till omkring 90 procent – skulle det vara en ”tremendous revolution som du inte kommer att ha sett på en tid”. ”Operationen är lång och tråkig, men absolut genomförbar”, tillade han. — En sak är säker. Spinalsträngsfusion är en verklighet och skalltransplantationer kommer att ske.” Sergio Canavero hävdar att han kan göra dig odödlig, men det finns en liten hake. Han vill först hugga huvudet av dig. Om det inte är en deal-breaker, du kommer att bli glad att höra att den italienska neurokirurgen har meddelat att han kommer att utföra världens första mänskliga huvudtransplantation i Kina någon gång i december. (Han är vag på detaljer, möjligen av säkerhetsskäl.) Han kommer att ta bort huvudet på en patient – en oidentifierad kinesisk medborgare – och fästa det vid en donatorkropp, ursprung (och dödsorsak) som är okänd. Ryggraden kommer att smältas och blodkärl och muskler fästas. Patienten – samma huvud, ny kropp – kommer att hållas i koma i ungefär en månad medan han (eller hon?) läker. Canavero säger att om han lyckas, kommer hans patient så småningom att kunna gå igen. Om hans plan låter skrattretande, så beror det på att det är det. Ingen vet hur man fixar en trasig mänsklig ryggmärg, och de vetenskapliga bevis som stöder Canavero är högst tvivelaktiga. Och etiken att utföra en oprövad procedur som äventyrar ett (eller möjligen två) människoliv är i bästa fall oklar. Inget av det avskräcker Canavero, så håll i hattarna. Den mänskliga ryggmärgen är ett långt, tunt nervrör som förbinder nästan varje kroppsdel med hjärnan. Det är den väg som gör att hjärnan kan ge kommandon till kroppen, och cellerna där är mycket specialiserade – så mycket att när de väl är skadade, är de effektivt förlorade för gott. Regenererande skadade ryggmärgsceller är utomordentligt svåra. I USA finns det uppskattningsvis 12.500 ryggmärgsskador varje år, varför Canavero inte är den enda vetenskapsmannen som desperat försöker laga ryggmärgen. På 1960 - talet var den berömde vetenskapsmannen L.W. Freeman experimenterade med råttor, katter och hundar för att ta reda på om det fanns några omständigheter under vilka ryggmärgen skulle reparera sig själv naturligt. Han tog bort små delar av ryggmärgen och väntade sedan på att få se vad som skulle hända. Av de 66 djur som överlevde hans operation återfick sex så småningom vad han ansåg vara en "bra" nivå av motorisk funktion. Detta verkade vara en imponerande prestation, men den gällde inte nödvändigtvis människor. Det snitt Freeman gjorde var vasst och rent, men när människor skadar sina ryggmärgar är tåren rörig. Oavsett, säger Canavero Freemans arbete “glänsa ljus på vägen”, inspirera honom att gräva djupare i mindre känd ryggmärgsforskning. Se alla de bästa bilderna av veckan i dessa bildspel Han hittade så småningom något annat som gladde honom. Efter en skidolycka lämnade en kvinna förlamad 2005—hennes ryggmärg var helt avskuren—kirurger i USA tog bort den skadade delen och fyllde gapet med kollagen, i hopp om att ändarna skulle smälta ihop naturligt. Ett och ett halvt år efter operationen kunde kvinnan röra på benen igen. Canavero avgjorde denna framgång, som trotsade läkardogmen, krävde mer forskning. – Jag hade fått lära mig att ryggmärgsförnyelse inte är möjlig, säger han. ”Det var beviset på att jag var tvungen att påskynda hela processen.” BruceBlaus/CC Nyckeln, tror Canavero, är polyetylenglykol, eller PEG, en typ av gel som påskyndar ryggmärgsfusion. Han tror att om man gjorde ett rent snitt och sedan applicerade gelen, skulle ryggmärgen kunna smälta samman, i stället för att förbli söndersliten. Denna fusion skulle återställa den väg som krävs för att signaler från hjärnan skall nå resten av kroppen. Han och andra forskare i hans team har släppt flera uppsatser som verkar visa att hans teknik skulle kunna fungera. I en studie publicerad i Wileys tidskrift CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics återfick råttor förmågan att gå 28 dagar efter att ha blivit förlamade. I Canavero sinne, när du har ryggmärgen problem räkna ut, resten av operationen är bara ett fall av att koppla samman vävnader. Han bestämde att hans plan åtminstone skulle ges ett försök, varför han 2013 meddelade att han tänkte göra världens första transplantation av mänskligt huvud. Detta gick inte bra. Vetenskapssamfundet var upprört – fellow neurologer fördömde honom som en kändishungrig narcissist som borde sättas i fängelse om han utförde operationen. En framstående kirurg, Hunt Batjer, från University of Texas Southwestern, sade också att den som genomgick operationen stod inför ett öde ”värre än döden”. Teoretiskt sett kunde ett okroppsligt huvud överleva i upphängd animation, hålla sig vid liv med blod från donatorkroppen men oförmögen att kontrollera någon kroppslig funktion – och med otrolig smärta, säger Jerry Silver, professor i neurovetenskap vid Case Western Reserve University i Ohio som har tillbringat sin karriär med att söka ett botemedel mot förlamning. Huvudet kommer att ha en ”förtvivlad tillvaro”, där det inte kommer att kunna andas eller kontrollera sin egen hjärtfrekvens – ett öde som är mycket värre än att vara en quadriplegic. Huvudets luftstrupe skulle fästas vid en respirator, så den kunde ventileras, och den kunde förbli vid liv så där i flera dagar. Forskare slet sig också in i verket Canavero citerar som bevis som stöder hans tillvägagångssätt. En studie, som gjordes av ett team sydkoreanska forskare som var engagerade i Canavero ’s projekt, drog till sig betydande kritik för något som publicerades i tidskriften Kirurgical Neurology International (SNI). De hade skurit av och smält ihop ryggmärgen hos råttor. Fyra av djuren drunknade i en laboratorieflod efter operationen. Men i stället för att upprepa experimentet kom de fram till att det var en framgång eftersom den enda överlevande råttan kunde röra sig lite. Detta var en av en serie studier om huvudtransplantationer som publicerades i SNI – en tidskrift som Canavero råkar vara redaktör för. Silver säger att studierna Canavero använder är inte tillräckligt bra eftersom de använde sig av ett litet antal djur, ofta utan kontrollgrupp. Dessutom rättfärdigar inte djurmodeller som antas visa fasta ryggmärger att man gör detsamma med människor. “Du kommer inte att hoppa från gnagare till människa,” säger han, tillägger att Canaveros huvudtransplantationsplan är “kriminell.” CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics/Wiley/Peng-Wei Li et al Och oavsett om dessa experiment ger stöd till Canaveros teorier, de är också störande. En råtta med huvudet av en annan råtta fastsydd på ryggen eller en medvetslös apa med Halloween-esque hals stygn är utanför gränserna för acceptabel vetenskaplig undersökning och hotar att förvandla Canavero till en Dr Frankenstein figur skapa monster under sken av vetenskaplig forskning. Karen Rommelfanger, chef för programmet för neuroetik vid Emory University Center for Ethics i Georgia, väcker ytterligare en spännande varning: möjligheten att denna operation är en sanerad version av mord. — Om du fortfarande har en hjärna som lever... då att ta av det huvudet och ta bort kroppen, är det möjligt att vi dödar någon? säger hon. Darren Ó hAilín, doktorand i molekylär medicin i Tyskland vid University Medical Center Freiburg, säger att det är mycket långt kvar till transplantationer av mänskligt huvud, och att Canavero och hans forskare erbjuder “skiljaktiga pusselbitar och skapar illusionen av en sammanhållen plan.” I verkligheten är allt vi har nu “en mishmash av preliminära experiment.” Istället för att tålmodigt och minutiöst bygga på deras resultat, säger Ó hAilín, Canavero laddar framåt. “Han går direkt till pressen med bilder av en apas huvud fastsydd i en apas kropp och säger, “Här, vi gjorde det.”” Canavero invänder mot föreställningen att tidigare studier har saknat en kontroll, en grupp patienter som inte fick experimentell behandling, så resultaten kan jämföras. Han hävdar att endast en av studierna saknade en kontrollgrupp, och att det i så fall inte var nödvändigt. Han och hans lag skar av ryggmärgen på en hund, som sedermera syntes återfå en del rörelse. Som en enda fallstudie ger den bevis (i Canavero ögon) för att ryggmärgen kan återsmältas. Kim et al/SNI Han ser sitt arbete som påminner om bröderna Wright som äntligen tar till luften för första gången. – Det var bara ett plan, men det räckte för att bevisa att det var möjligt att flyga, säger han. Hunden, säger Canavero, är som hans första plan. Två huvuden bättre än ett? Canavero har minst en släktanda: Xiaoping Ren, från Harbin Medical University, i Kina. Han kommer att bistå Canavero med operationen i december. Ren har utfört tusentals huvudtransplantationer på möss. Paret anslöt sig efter att Canavero publicerat sin mänskliga huvudtransplantationsplan. – Det var som att bli kär, säger Canavero och beskriver sitt första möte. — Två sinnen från ett sådant avstånd, som ville göra detsamma. Det var otroligt.” Nu kommer de att få en chans att arbeta tillsammans på sin gemensamma dröm. Canavero säger att de människor som vill ha den här operationen är villiga att riskera allt eftersom de inte har något kvar att förlora – de har ingen livskvalitet och dör med all sannolikhet en långsam och smärtsam död. Om transplantationen misslyckas, då kommer de åtminstone att dö i vetskap om att ingen ansträngning att rädda dem var skonad. Om det lyckas – ja, då har de gjort medicinsk historia. Och, naturligtvis, lever fortfarande. OOM-Sergio Canavero Silver invänder mot tanken att Canavero ger någon en sista chans till livet. Minnet av en transplantation av aphuvudet som han bevittnade som postdoktor och kunskapen om vad patienten kunde stå inför är för mycket att övervinna. ”Det såg fasansfullt ut”, säger han om apan, ”och i smärta.” Även om Canavero kunde få en del av nerven och känselfibrerna att smälta, säger Silver, skulle smärtan kunna vara outhärdlig. – Varje muskel, ben, allt har skurits av, säger Silver. — Kan ni föreställa er smärtan av alla de där skärande sakerna? Det är det värsta. Huvudet kommer att vakna upp av smärta.” Även om Canavero lyckas koppla ihop ryggmärgens två ändar kommer hjärnan inte att kunna ta kontroll över en ny kropp, förklarar Ó hAilín. Även om det är sant att våra hjärnor ständigt kopplar om från den dag vi föds till den dag vi dör, är det önsketänkande att förvänta sig att en hjärna ska anpassa sina ledningar till en helt ny kropp. — Vad händer om dessa ledningar inte ansluter? säger Ó hAilín. Läkare fruktar också hur kroppen kommer att reagera på sin nya hjärna. Vid varje transplantation ser kroppen det nya organet eller extremiteten som främmande vävnad, och immunförsvaret angriper den. Patienter som har en transplantation måste ta immunsuppressiva läkemedel under resten av sitt liv för att förhindra denna avstötning. Och om immunförsvaret angriper den nya delen trots drogerna, måste den avlägsnas. Canavero avfärdar detta problem, säker på att en avstötning av huvudet kan hanteras på samma sätt som en njure eller ett hjärta. Men det finns inga bevis för att immunsuppressiva medel kan övervinna en kropps reflexiva avvisande av en ny hjärna. Det finns också en potentiellt svindlande psykologisk effekt. Hjärnan kanske inte kan acceptera sin nya kropp, ett fenomen som ses vid andra transplantationsoperationer. Clint Hallam, världens första handtransplantationspatient, fick den borttagen efter att ha blivit "mentalt lösgjord" från den – han kunde inte se den som en del av sin egen kropp. GERARD MALIE/AFP/Getty Images Inget av detta gäller Canavero. Han menar att om hans patient överlever operationen kan de ta itu med eventuella efterföljande problem när de uppstår. På 1960-talet utförde Christiaan Barnard världens första hjärttransplantation, och gjorde flera saker som idag troligen skulle anses oetiska – tekniskt sett kanske de donatorer han avlägsnade slog hjärtan från inte hade varit döda. Barnard måste också ha vetat att vissa människor skulle dö till följd av hans operation, men han fortsatte ändå, och nu är hjärttransplantationer ett vanligt – och livräddande – förfarande. Canavero är medveten om faran och lägger ett visst ansvar på patienten, som har ställt upp frivilligt. — Låt oss inte vara dumma — detta är en riskfylld operation. Men informerat samtycke innebär att den som går under [min kniv] vet mycket väl vad som ligger framför och är i ett så förlamande tillstånd att det inte finns någon annan strategi för dem.” Han påpekar också att osäkerhet är en del av medicinska framsteg. Genredigering och immunterapitekniker som för närvarande utvecklas kommer också med risker, påpekar Canavero. En immunterapistudie fick läggas på is förra året efter tre patienters död. Canavero ser sin kommande operation som en välsignelse för inte bara människor i behov av ryggmärgskirurgi utan hela mänskligheten. Medicinen, säger han, har svikit oss. Trots alla våra bästa forskningsinsatser har vi fortfarande inte ett botemedel mot cancer, hiv, malaria och otaliga andra dödliga tillstånd. Genombrott, tror han, kommer endast genom att ta risker. Om operationen lyckas, skulle ge en behandlingsalternativ för personer med quadriplegi eller muskelspillning sjukdomar som gör dem oförmögen att röra sig. En kropp full av cancer kunde till exempel bytas ut. Den mest radikala möjligheten är att transplantationshuvuden kan leda till en form av odödlighet – att byta en gammal kropp till en ny närhelst det behövs, som att byta däck på en bil. De många frågor som rör Canavero plan förblir olösta (för att uttrycka det milt), men hans team planerar att utföra operationen i december. Om det lyckas blir Canavero en jätte i den medicinska forskningens historia. Och om operationen misslyckas, kommer han att försöka igen. Han vet att det är det enda sättet att komma framåt. PHOTOS PIERO MARTINELLO I GUARDIAN (Für die deutsche Version des Artikels klicken Sie bitte hier) För fyra år sedan presenterades hans tillkännagivande i alla globala medier: Prof. Sergio Canavero, känd neurokirurg från Turin, planerar världens första transplantation av ett mänskligt huvud. Det följande ramaskriet genljöd högt över hela läkarkåren: många experter var överens om att ett sådant åtagande aldrig skulle bli framgångsrikt, ännu mindre under de närmaste årtiondena. Tillsammans med olika team i USA, Kina och Sydkorea fortsatte dock författaren till mer än 140 vetenskapliga publikationer att fullfölja den plan han kallade HEAVEN (Head Anastomosis Venture). I sitt GEMINI-protokoll beskriver Canavero varje nödvändigt steg i förfarandet i detalj, som beskrivs i en instruktionsbok. Medan media täckte hans projekt i tusentals funktioner som publicerades och sändes jorden runt från CNN till New York Times, från Independent till Guardian, nådde Sergio Canavero den ena milstolpen efter den andra. I en exklusiv intervju med OOOM avslöjar den medicinska pionjären nu för första gången fakta om ett förfarande som kanske inte bara i grunden förändrar medicinen utan också livet för miljontals människor i rullstol: Världens första transplantation av mänskligt huvud kommer att utföras inom de närmaste tio månaderna. Förfarandet kommer att genomföras i Kina. Erfarna kirurgen Xiaoping Ren vid Harbin Medical University, en nära vän till Canavero, kommer att leda det kirurgiska teamet som utför huvudtransplantationen. Han ingick tidigare i operationsteamet vid förstahandstransplantationen i USA. Den första huvudtransplanterade patienten kommer inte att vara ryska Valery Spiridonov utan en kinesisk medborgare. Det finns redan potentiella kandidater till operationen. Under tiden planerar professor Canavero redan sin nästa kupp: världens första hjärntransplantation, som beräknas äga rum senast om tre år. Han har redan börjat sätta ihop ett team för proceduren. I detta syfte är det redan i planeringen av det första institutet för livsförlängning – en anläggning där sådana förfaranden skulle kunna genomföras i framtiden. Otroligt resultat. Xiaoping Ren kommer att tillkännage det exakta schemat för huvudtransplantationen vid en presskonferens i Kina de kommande två månaderna. Många experiment har redan utförts och har, enligt professor Canavero, gett ”trovärdiga resultat, vilket kommer att förändra medicinens förlopp”. Dr Ren kommer att publicera sina rön i ledande medicinska tidskrifter inom en snar framtid. Enligt uppgift utgör världens första huvudtransplantation betydligt färre kirurgiska och medicinska hinder än vad som tidigare antagits. Förfarandets varaktighet kommer enligt uppgift att vara betydligt kortare än 72 timmar. – Jag kan bara gratulera min vän och kollega Xiaoping Ren; hans prestation är ett mästerdrag, säger Canavero. I en exklusiv intervju med OOOM personligen bemyndigad av prof. Canavero, uppger han – för första gången – fakta om det banbrytande förfarandet. XIAOPING REN. Denna undersökning kommer att leda det första överförande förfarandet. Professor Canavero, för fyra månader sedan meddelade New York Time i ett femradigt stycke att världens första huvudtransplantation skulle genomföras i december 2017 i den kinesiska staden Harbin. Hittills har detta inte bekräftats. Är dessa rapporter korrekta? Ja, de har rätt. Världens första transplantation av mänskligt huvud kommer att genomföras på mindre än tio månader. Det kinesiska läkarteamet leds på plats av dr Xiaoping Ren vid Harbin Medical University, en nära vän till mig och en utomordentligt skicklig kirurg. Operationen kommer att genomföras i Harbin. Vad kan du berätta konkret om operationen? För närvarande finns det inget i detalj. När tiden är inne kommer de officiella nyheterna att tillkännages av Xiaopings team i Kina. För närvarande kan jag bara avslöja att det har gjorts enorma framsteg i medicinska experiment som skulle ha verkat omöjliga så sent som för några månader sedan. De milstolpar som har uppnåtts kommer utan tvivel att revolutionera medicinen. Det kan jag redan säga. Vi har just skickat in resultaten av dessa studier för publicering till kända vetenskapliga medicinska tidskrifter, så vi vill inte föregripa den kommande publiceringen. Om världens första huvudtransplantation kommer att äga rum i Kina, då kommer den ryska kandidaten Valery Spiridonov inte att vara den första patient som operationen kommer att genomföras på. Det stämmer. Den första patienten blir kineser. DET NYA OOOM IFRÅN 2017-05-05 Läs vårutgåvan av OOOM gratis på nätet. Den italienska neurokirurgen Sergio Canavero har meddelat ytterligare detaljer om planen att genomföra världens första huvudtransplantationsoperation. I en vändning kommer operationen inte längre att utföras på Valerij Spiridonov, en rysk man som lider av den muskelspillande Werdnig-Hoffmans sjukdom, med vilken Canavero har arbetat i nästan två år. Istället kommer operationen att äga rum i Kina på en för närvarande ovald kinesisk medborgare. Ett nyhetsmeddelande som publicerades torsdag av OOOM, medieföretaget som hanterar Canavero press meddelade att Spiridonov, “som under en lång period ansågs för att vara den första transplanterade patienten, inte kommer att vara den första personen vars huvud kommer att få en ny kropp.” Det var oklart varför Spiridonov inte längre var inblandad. Georg Kindel, ansvarig utgivare & chefredaktör för OOOM, berättar för Newsweek att det helt enkelt handlade om var operationen kommer att äga rum. – Eftersom huvudtransplantationen kommer att genomföras i Kina är det mycket lättare att få en kinesisk donator, säger han. — Det är den främsta orsaken. Jag är inte säker på om professor Canavero har talat med Valery under tiden. Jag känner inte till Valerys reaktion. Men om huvudtransplantationen lyckas – och vi alla hoppas och är övertygade om att den kommer att lyckas – då blir det inte den sista, så det blir bara en fråga om tid när Valery kommer att få en ny kropp.” Canavero, i en intervju med OOOM, sade att den första mänskliga huvudtransplantationen kommer att äga rum inom 10 månader. Han angav inte ett datum för operationen, men Kindel sade laget är på rätt spår för att genomföra det i slutet av året: "De har ett snävt schema men laget i Kina säger att de är redo att göra det. Professor Canavero sa alltid att vi kommer att vara redo i slutet av 2017 och-om det finns en stark makt i Kina bakom projektet-det verkar definitivt kommer att vara i slutet av detta år eller början av nästa år som hela förfarandet kommer att genomföras. "För närvarande, Canavero och Xiaoping Ren, vid Harbin Medical University i Kina, har lagt fram lite bevis för att övertyga forskarsamhället deras plan kommer att bli en framgång. Canavero har tidigare gett en kort översikt över vad de avser att göra, men med relativt liten detaljrikedom av de steg som ingår. Forskning som beskriver djurförsök har också misslyckats med att övertyga kritiker, av vilka många säger att vi inte är i närheten av att ha den teknik som krävs för att genomföra ett så komplicerat förfarande. I pressmeddelandet sade Canavero att de har flera uppsatser om transplantationer av huvudet som för närvarande är under peer review och kommer att visas i ”kända vetenskapliga medicinska tidskrifter” – även om han inte angav vilka tidskrifter. “Jag kan bara avslöja att det har skett enorma framsteg i medicinska experiment, vilket skulle ha verkat omöjligt så sent som för några månader sedan,” sade han. ”De milstolpar vi har nått kommer utan tvekan att revolutionera medicinen.” Frågad om varför Canavero och Ren håller sin forskning så väl bevakad hemlig – något som de har kritiserats för i det förflutna – sade Kindel att det har att göra med de teknologier de utvecklar: ”Är dessa procedurer som kan patenteras? Om så är fallet kommer det att ske, säger han. – Det är samma sak som med läkemedelsföretag. De bedriver forskning i flera år och publicerar ingenting, sedan går de i ett visst skede ut och informerar media och allmänheten. Se veckans alla bästa bilder i dessa bildspel Svar på kritik från andra forskare, tillade han: “Det finns så kallade experter som inte har någon erfarenhet eftersom de aldrig har gjort detta tidigare. De säger ”nej detta kommer aldrig att hända.” Canavero har bara ett mål – han säger ”Jag jobbar på det. Vi har forskarna, experterna, teamen i USA, Sydkorea och Kina som arbetar med det och när vi är redo att informera allmänheten, kommer vi att göra det.’” Flera personer som arbetar på fältet har också kritiserat forskarna på grundval av att om de har tekniken för att reparera ryggmärgen – en av de viktigaste delarna av operationen – då bör de utveckla detta för att behandla människor som är förlamade, istället för att hålla tillbaka det för en operation som många tror inte kommer att fungera. –[Reparering av ryggmärgen] var en del av hela forskningen för huvudtransplantationen, säger Kindel. – I början försökte de bara med sin teknik och tänkte att det kanske fungerar, men det fungerar. Det var häpnadsväckande för hela teamet. Det är bara en del av hela processen. Och om det är så att de kan hjälpa tetraplegiker och paraplegiker, då är detta verkligen ett stort steg framåt inom medicinen. " Kindel sade han och teamet känner till inga rättsliga restriktioner eller föreskrifter som skulle hindra dem från att utföra operationen. I Kina väntar nu kirurger på att tidskrifterna ska godkänna de studier de har lämnat in – därefter kommer resultaten att bli offentliga. – Det är något som är helt nytt och som kan förändra medicinen, säger han. ”Om detta fungerar – och alla studier verkar visa att det kommer att fungera – då är detta verkligen ett stort steg framåt för medicinen i allmänhet.” Rättning: Denna artikel hänvisade tidigare till Michael Sarr, redaktör för tidskriften Kirurgi, som neurokirurg när han är kirurg. Den intervjuade hänvisade också till citat som tidigare gjorts av Sarr och som var felaktiga. Alla referenser till Sarr har nu tagits bort. Världens första transplantation av mänskligt huvud har enligt uppgift utförts på ett lik i en 18 timmar lång operation som framgångsrikt förband ryggraden, nerverna och blodkärlen hos två personer. Operationen utfördes av ett team som leddes av Dr Xiaoping Ren vid Harbin Medical University, Kina, som förra året framgångsrikt ympade ett huvud på en apas kropp. Den italienske professorn Sergio Canavero, direktör för Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, som har arbetat med teamet, sade att de skulle "onämnbart" flytta till en levande människa som var förlamad från nacken och ner. Han berättade för The Telegraph att elektrisk stimulering av nerverna bevisade att operationen på liket hade varit framgångsrik, och att... Neurokirurgen Sergio Canavero är i nyheterna igen, påstå att ha utfört den första framgångsrika mänskliga huvudtransplantationen. Men även en snabb analys visar att han inte har gjort det. Och vetenskaplig logik tyder på att han aldrig kommer att I februari 2015 dök Sergio Canavero upp i just denna publikation och hävdade att ett levande människohuvud framgångsrikt kommer att transplanteras till en donerad människokropp inom två år. Han har dykt upp i media mycket sedan dess, men två år och nio månader senare, hur ser det ut? Ja, han är bara borta och gjorde det! Som vi kan se i den här berättelsen om telegrafen från våra dagar har världens första transplantation av människohuvud framgångsrikt genomförts. Antar att alla de mer blyga neurobodarna som sa att det inte kunde göras (även jag själv) känner sig ganska dumma just nu, va? Inte riktigt. För om man ser förbi de triumferande och chockerande rubrikerna blir sanningen mycket tydlig, mycket snabbt. I intresse av fullt avslöjande, Jag vet inte Dr Sergio Canavero, han har inte gjort något direkt mot mig som jag är medveten om. Men jag tvivlar nu allvarligt på hans motiv. Jag har diskuterat mina skäl till detta på annat håll förr i tiden, men här är de återigen på ett ställe för att vara lätt att läsa. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Även den fiktiva Dr Frankenstein hade en bättre framgång. Fotografi: Hulton Archive/Getty Images Dessa ”framgångsrika” procedurer är allt annat än många av Canavero tidigare framträdanden i media har åtföljts av påståenden om framgångsrika huvudtransplantationsprocedurer. Men, hur definierar vi ”framgångsrika” här? Canavero definition verkar vara extremt "generös" i bästa fall. Till exempel påstod han nyligen att han hade “lyckat” utföra en huvudtransplantation på en apa. Men gjorde han det? Medan aphuvudet tydligen överlevde proceduren, återfick det aldrig medvetandet, det hölls bara vid liv i 20 timmar av ”etiska skäl” och det gjordes inget försök att koppla ihop ryggmärgen, så även om apan hade överlevt på lång sikt skulle den ha förlamats livet ut. Så, det var en lyckad procedur, om du anser förlamning, brist på medvetande och en livslängd på mindre än en dag som indikatorer på “framgång”. Det var också hans "framgångsrika" råtthuvudtransplantation, som innebar att ympa ett avhugget råtthuvud på en annan råtta, en levande som fortfarande hade huvudet kvar. Exakt hur detta räknas som en “transplantation” är någons gissning. Det är att lägga till ett (funktionellt värdelöst) bihang till ett annars hälsosamt ämne. Och den senaste lyckade transplantationen av människohuvudet? Det var på lik! Kalla mig perfektionist om du måste, men jag tror verkligen att alla kirurgiska ingrepp där patienterna eller försökspersonerna dör innan det ens börjar verkligen sträcker definitionen av “framgång” till brytpunkt. Kanske gjorde ingreppet en bra uppvisning av att ”vidröra” nerverna och blodkärlen i bred skala, men, än sen? Det är bara början på vad som krävs för ett fungerande kroppssystem. Det finns fortfarande en väg att gå. Man kan svetsa ihop två halvor av olika bilar och kalla det en succé om man vill, men om man i samma ögonblick som man vrider på nyckeln i tändningen exploderar hela saken, skulle de flesta vara hårt pressade för att backa upp en på sin briljans. Kanske de tekniker som används för att bevara huvudet och fästa dem har ett visst vetenskapligt värde, men det är fortfarande ett långt rop från tanken på att någon vandrar runt med en fullt fungerande kropp som inte är den de föddes med. Canavero verkar ha en vana att hävda barnstormande triumf baserad på försumbara prestationer, eller även efter att ha gjort saker mycket värre. Han verkar vara den neurokirurgiska motsvarigheten till Storbritanniens Brexit-förhandlingsgrupp. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Du förväntar dig kopiösa detaljer när det gäller att utföra en framgångsrik huvudtransplantation. Hittills är de underligt frånvarande. Fotografi: Alamy De avgörande detaljerna förbises märkligt nog Den mänskliga kroppen är inte modulär. Du kan inte byta bitar runt som du skulle Lego block, ta en tegelsten från slottet och sätta den på ett piratskepp och få det att fungera bra. Det finns många hinder att brottas med när man kopplar ett huvud till kroppen, även när det är samma persons. Läkare har under de senaste åren ”återtagit” en allvarligt skadad ryggmärg hos ett litet barn, men nyckelordet är ”skadad”, inte ”fullständigt avhuggen”; det finns tillräckligt med samband att arbeta med, att reparera och förstärka. Och detta är med ett litet barn, med ett fortfarande utvecklande nervsystem bättre kunna kompensera. Även om man tog hänsyn till allt detta och den moderna medicinens avancerade tillstånd, ansågs det framgångsrika förfarandet vara ett mirakulöst gränsfall. Så för att fästa en helt avhuggen ryggmärg, en fullt utvecklad vuxen, på en annan, en som kanske har varit död i flera dagar? Det är, vad är, minst fyra ytterligare underverk som krävs? Och det är inte att ta hänsyn till immunavstötning, det faktum att vi inte riktigt vet hur man "fixar" skadade nerver ännu (förutom koppla ihop två okända halvor) och frågan om att allas hjärna utvecklas i samklang med sin kropp. Den senare punkten betyder att ”gränssnittet” mellan de två är relativt unikt. Man sätter musikerhuvudet på kroppen på en byggmästare, det kan mycket väl visa sig vara som att försöka spela ett Xbox-spel på en PlayStation. Förutom oändligt mycket mer traumatiskt. Vi vet naturligtvis inte säkert, eftersom ingen någonsin har provat det. Canavero verkar övertygad om att han kan göra det, men hittills har han erbjudit någon möjlig förklaring eller vetenskap för sina påståenden att kunna övervinna dessa hinder, bortom några symboliska saker om att bevara vävnader och säkerställa blodtillförsel under förfaranden. Det är lite som om någon påstår att de kan bygga en fungerande fusionsreaktor och, på frågan hur, förklarar hur de kommer att plumb i toaletterna för teknikerna. Det är ett användbart steg, men uppenbarligen inte huvudfrågan här. Facebook Twitter Pinterest TED Talks. Slicka, inspirerande, intressant, inte precis peer-reviewed. Fotografi: Alamy Stock Bild Hype innan substans Jag har sagt detta tidigare, även i en trådbunden artikel om Canavero tidigare påståenden, i den utsträckning jag överväger varumärke det som “Burnetts lag”. Enkelt uttryckt; om någon gör stora vetenskapliga påståenden men inte har tillhandahållit robusta bevis för dem, ändå har de gjort ett TED-tal, borde larmklockor ringa. Jag vet inte vad Canaveros förtroende bygger på. Ingen verkar göra det. Han har inte publicerat något som skulle berättiga det hittills. Notera hans nyligen “framgångsrika” mänskliga huvudtransplantation påståenden, som du kan läsa om i Telegraph innan han har publicerat de faktiska resultaten, som anges i artikeln. Varför det? Varför berätta för tidningarna innan du berättar för dina kamrater? Om ditt förfarande är tillräckligt rigoröst och tillförlitligt, bör uppgifterna återspegla det. När forskare, särskilt självutnämnda “mavericks”, domstol publicitet men desperat undvika granskning, det är aldrig ett uppmuntrande tecken. Enligt artikeln i Telegraph hävdar Canavero att nästa steg blir att försöka sig på en transplantation med någon i ett vegetativt tillstånd eller liknande. Han säger sig också ha gott om frivilliga för detta. Exakt hur komapatienter aktivt anmälde sig till denna radikala procedur är någons gissning. Det finns ännu inget omnämnande av att försöka det i en medveten person, trots att det finns faktiska frivilliga för det. Jag misstänker att det aldrig kommer att bli så. Att försöka det med en medveten, tänkande person betyder att det absolut måste vara 100% effektivt för dem att stanna kvar i detta tillstånd efter transplantationen är klar. Detta skulle innebära att man kunde finna fungerande lösningar på alla de betydande hinder som själva begreppet huvudtransplantation innebär. Om jag har fel om detta så tar jag gärna tillbaka allt och ber om ursäkt, men inget Canavero har sagt eller gjort hittills får mig att tro att han har någon aning om hur man gör detta. Dean Burnett är fullt medveten om att proceduren logiskt bör kallas en “kroppstransplantation” men det är inte så det brukar beskrivas, så har använt de vanligare termerna. Hans bok The Idiot Brain finns nu, i Storbritannien och USA och på andra håll. Skriv en sammanfattning.
The Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero gives gestures when speaking during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, on November 17. (Photo: EPA) An Italian doctor announced Friday that he will soon perform the world's first human head transplant in China because medical communities in the United States and Europe would not allow the controversial procedure. "The Americans didn't understand," Sergio Canavero told a Vienna news conference. Canavero said the Chinese government and Xiaoping Ren, a Chinese doctor who collaborates with him on the procedure, would confirm the date of the operation "within days" to signal their goal to become a world leader in all areas, including medicine. "Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to restore China to greatness. He wants to make it the only superpower in the world. I think he does," said Canavero. In a telephone interview with the United States TODAY, Canavero condemned the unwillingness of the United States or Europe to host the operation. "No U.S. medical institute or center would pursue this, and there is no will from the U.S. government to support it," he said. Canavero would not reveal the identity of the Chinese donor or recipient. The donor will be the healthy body of a brain-dead patient matched to build with a recipient's disease-free head. Canavero estimates that the procedure will cost up to $100 million and involve several dozen surgeons and other specialists. He will at the same time cut off the donor's and recipient's spinal cords with a diamond blade. To protect the recipient's brain from immediate death before being attached to the body, it will be cooled into a state of deep hypothermia. The recipient and donor will be in a sitting position to facilitate what is expected to be more than about 24 hours of laborious work to separate and then reconnect vertebral bones, jugular veins, trachea, esophagus, and other neck structures. Machines help the recipient breathe and pump blood through the body. The patient will be kept in a drug-induced coma for an unspecified recovery time. Michael Sarr, a former surgeon at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the editor of Surgery magazine, said Canavero procedure is radical. Doctors "have always been taught that when you cut a nerve, 'downstream side,' the part that takes a signal and leads it to somewhere else, dies," he said. "The 'upstream side', the part that generates the signal, dies back a little — one millimeter or two — and eventually reappears. As long as that "downstream channel" still exists, it can return through that channel, but only for a length of about one foot." That's why, he said, if you amputate your wrist and then reimplant it and line up your nerves well, you can regain the function of your hand. However, if your arm is amputated at the shoulder, it will not be transplanted because it will never lead to a functional hand. "What Canavero will do differently is bathe the ends of the nerves in a solution that stabilizes the membranes and puts them back together," Sarr said. "The nerves will melt, but they will not relapse. And he will not do this in peripheral nerves that you find in your arm, but in the spinal cord, where there are several types of nerve channels." There have been some successes using Canavero proposed technology in mice and dogs. In one example, after six weeks, a dog walked, albeit with a awkward gait. "Based on the classic thinking about how nerves regenerate it was incredible," Sarr said. Canavero said that his team "repeted" his technique with human cadavers in China, but otherwise there are no known human trials. He said the 18-hour surgery on two corpses showed that it was possible to reconnect the spinal cord and blood vessels. Before the complete transplant takes place, two brain-dead patients will undergo surgery. Most medical experts say it's a gamble, but even if the operation works the biggest obstacle may not be science itself, but if it is to happen at all. "There are too many risks at this point to go ahead with it," said Assya Pascalev, a biomedical ethicist at Howard University in Washington, D.C. "We don't have enough data with animal models, sufficient published and peer-reviewed results, and especially data on the morbidity and mortality of the animals that have had the procedure." Pascalev said that any groundbreaking procedure will certainly face objections and skepticism, and requires a leap in faith. "The first heart transplant, the hand transplant, the face transplant: everyone was met with serious reservations," Pascalev said. "There are also problems with legislation. China does not have the same ethical standards and requirements as the United States and Europe have." She added that there were large unanswered questions about the recipient if the operation succeeds, such as whether he or she would have legal rights to children produced by the new body. "It's not just about a head adapting to a new body. Maybe we're dealing with a whole new person." Canavero dismissed these concerns. "Western bioethics needed to stop devaluing the world," he said. He added that China's susceptibility to host the operation reflected its determination to replace the United States as a world leader in all areas. "Who sent America to the moon? It was Wernher von Braun," he said, citing the German immigrant who was an early rocket developer and space explosion advocate for the American James Giordano, a professor of medicine and neuroscience at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, agreed with Pascalev that not sufficiently rigorous studies have been done to support a procedure with so many risks. He said patients could get better service if Canavero focused on spinal reconstruction, not transplants. But he also gave him some credit for his pioneer work. "He's driven the ethical flag up on the poles and said, 'Look, I'm not an ethicist, I'm a neurologist and this might be an avant-garde technique, I realize there's a high risk of failure, but this is the only way we can push the envelope and probe the edge to determine what works, what doesn't and why.'" Read or share this story: https://usat.ly/2ANIl5p <unk> Scientists have performed a head transplant on a human corpse, the neurosurgeon behind the operation has announced. At a press conference in Vienna, Austria, Sergio Canavero said that his team could remove the head from one body and connect it to the body of another by mixing the spine, nerves and blood vessels. He said the next step will be to conduct the operation on a living person, reports The Telegraph. "The first human transplant on human carcasses has been done. A complete head change between brain-dead organ donors is the next step,” he said. "And that's the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition imminent." Canavero said a "high number" of people have volunteered to be his first head transplant patient. It is believed that he will carry out the operation in China in December. The Italian neurosurgeon did not present any evidence of his claims at the conference. Instead, he said that a scientific paper detailing the procedure would be released within the next few days. "For too long, nature has dictated her rules to us," he said. "We are born, grow, age and die. For millions of years, people have evolved and 100 billion people have died. It's genocide on a large scale. We have entered an age where we will take our fate back into our hands. It's gonna change everything. It will change you at every level.” Canavero said his team has managed to cut the time of the operation to just 18 hours. "After several transplants, the first full rehearsal has taken place in China. The operation lasted 18 hours. I mentioned in 2015 that it would take 36 hours, but the Chinese improved in that spectacular way, and the operation was successful. See all the best pictures of the week in these slideshows "The next step is a full head transplant on brain-dead organ donors and the first human head transplant for medical reasons will happen shortly. The date comes from Xiaoping in the next few days." Since announcing his plan, Canavero has attracted a barrage of criticism. Most experts agree that his plan is not reasonable – with most pointing out that with current technology, spinal cord fusion is not possible. There are also major ethical concerns about the legality of such a procedure, and a concern that the operation will fail but the head will remain alive. Jerry Silver, professor of neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, recently told Newsweek that technically the head can be attached to a ventilator where it can remain alive for days in incredible pain. “Every muscle, the legs, everything has been severed,” he said. — Can you imagine the pain of all those cutting things? That's the worst part. The head will wake up in pain.” Canavero, however, has remained defiant to his critics all along. He told Newsweek that if the operation is a success – a probability he estimates to be about 90 percent – it would be a ‘tremendous revolution that you won’t have seen for some time’. ‘The operation is long and boring, but absolutely feasible,’ he added. — One thing is certain. Spinal cord fusion is a reality and skull transplants will happen.” Sergio Canavero claims that he can make you immortal, but there is a small catch. He wants to cut your head off first. If it is not a deal-breaker, you will be pleased to hear that the Italian neurosurgeon has announced that he will perform the world's first human head transplant in China sometime in December. (He is vague on details, possibly for security reasons.) He will remove the head of a patient—an unidentified Chinese citizen—and attach it to a donor body, origin (and cause of death) that is unknown. The spine will be melted and blood vessels and muscles attached. The patient—the same head, new body—will be kept in a coma for about a month while he (or she?) Healing. Canavero says that if he succeeds, his patient will eventually be able to walk again. If his plan sounds ludicrous, it's because it is. No one knows how to fix a broken human spinal cord, and the scientific evidence supporting Canavero is highly questionable. And the ethics of carrying out an untested procedure that endangers one (or possibly two) human life is at best unclear. None of it deters Canavero, so hold on to your hats. The human spinal cord is a long, thin nerve tube that connects almost every part of the body to the brain. It is the path that allows the brain to give commands to the body, and the cells there are highly specialized—so much so that once they are damaged, they are effectively lost for good. Regenerating damaged spinal cord cells are extraordinarily severe. In the United States, there are an estimated 12,500 spinal cord injuries each year, so Canavero is not the only scientist desperately trying to fix the spinal cord. In the 1960 ’ s, famed scientist L.W. Freeman experimented with rats, cats, and dogs to find out if there were any circumstances under which the spinal cord would repair itself naturally. He removed small parts of his spinal cord and then waited to see what would happen. Of the 66 animals that survived his operation, six eventually regained what he considered a "good" level of motor function. This seemed to be an impressive achievement, but it did not necessarily apply to people. The cut Freeman made was sharp and clean, but when people hurt their spinal cords, the toes are messy. Regardless, says Canavero Freeman’s work “glow light along the way”, inspire him to delve deeper into less famous spinal cord research. See all the best pictures of the week in these slideshows He eventually found something else that pleased him. After a ski accident, a woman left paralyzed in 2005—her spinal cord was completely severed—surgeons in the United States removed the damaged part and filled the gap with collagen, hoping the ends would merge naturally. A year and a half after the operation, the woman could move her legs again. Canavero determined this success, which defied the medical dogma, required more research. “I had been taught that spinal cord renewal is not possible,” he says. “It was the proof that I had to speed up the whole process.” BruceBlaus/CC The key, Canavero believes, is polyethylene glycol, or PEG, a type of gel that accelerates spinal cord fusion. He believes that if you made a clean incision and then applied the gel, the spinal cord could merge, instead of remaining torn apart. This fusion would restore the path required for signals from the brain to reach the rest of the body. He and other researchers on his team have released several papers that seem to show that his technology could work. In a study published in Wiley's journal CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics, rats regained the ability to walk 28 days after being paralyzed. In Canavero mind, when you have spinal cord problems figure out, the rest of the operation is just a case of connecting tissues. He decided that his plan would at least be given a try, so in 2013 he announced that he was going to make the world's first transplant of human head. This didn't go well. The scientific community was upset—fellow neurologists denounced him as a celebrity-sung narcissist who should be put in prison if he performed the operation. A prominent surgeon, Hunt Batjer, of the University of Texas Southwestern, also said that whoever underwent the operation faced a fate “worse than death.” Theoretically, a disembodied head could survive in suspended animation, stay alive with blood from the donor body but unable to control any bodily function – and with incredible pain, says Jerry Silver, professor of neuroscience at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio who has spent his career seeking a cure for paralysis. The head will have a “desperate existence”, where it will not be able to breathe or control its own heart rate—a fate far worse than being a quadriplegic. The head’s windpipe was to be attached to a ventilator, so it could be ventilated, and it could remain alive for days. Scientists also broke into the work Canavero cites as evidence supporting his approach. A study by a team of South Korean researchers involved in Canavero’s project attracted considerable criticism for something published in Surgical Neurology International (SNI) magazine. They had cut and melted the spinal cord of rats. Four of the animals drowned in a laboratory flood after the operation. But instead of repeating the experiment, they concluded that it was a success because the only surviving rat could move a little. This was one of a series of studies on head transplants published in the SNI – a journal for which Canavero happens to be the editor. Silver says the studies Canavero uses are not good enough because they used a small number of animals, often without control group. Moreover, animal models supposedly showing solid spinal cords do not justify doing the same to humans. “You won’t jump from rodent to human,” he says, adding that Canavero’s main transplant plan is “criminal.” CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics/Wiley/Peng-Wei Li et al And regardless of whether these experiments support Canavero’s theories, they are also disturbing. A rat with the head of another rat sewn on his back or an unconscious monkey with Halloween-esque neck stitches is outside the limits of acceptable scientific investigation and threatens to transform Canavero into a Dr. Frankenstein figure creating monsters under the guise of scientific research. Karen Rommelfanger, director of the neuroethics program at the Emory University Center for Ethics in Georgia, raises another thrilling warning: the possibility that this operation is a sanitized version of murder. “If you still have a brain that is alive... then to take off that head and remove the body, is it possible that we kill someone?” she says. Darren Ó hAilín, PhD student in molecular medicine in Germany at the University Medical Center Freiburg, says that transplants of human head are very far away, and that Canavero and his researchers offer “disambiguational pieces of the puzzle and create the illusion of a cohesive plan.” In reality, all we now have is “a mishmash of preliminary experiments.” Instead of patiently and meticulously building on their results, says Ó hAilín, Canavero loading forward. “He goes directly to the press with pictures of a monkey’s head sewn into a monkey’s body and says, “Here, we did it.” Canavero objects to the notion that previous studies have lacked a control, a group of patients who did not receive experimental treatment, so the results can be compared. He claims that only one of the studies lacked a control group, and if so, it was not necessary. He and his team cut off the spinal cord of a dog, which subsequently appeared to regain some movement. As a single case study, it provides evidence (in Canavero eyes) that the spinal cord can be remelted. Kim et al/SNI He sees his work reminiscent of the Wright brothers who finally take to the air for the first time. “It was just a plane, but it was enough to prove that it was possible to fly,” he says. The dog, says Canavero, is like his first plan. Two heads better than one? Canavero has at least one family spirit: Xiaoping Ren, from Harbin Medical University, in China. He will assist Canavero with the operation in December. Ren has performed thousands of head transplants on mice. The couple joined after Canavero published their human main transplant plan. “It was like falling in love,” says Canavero, describing his first meeting. — Two senses from such a distance, who wanted to do the same. It was incredible.” Now they will have a chance to work together on their shared dream. Canavero says that the people who want this operation are willing to risk everything because they have nothing left to lose – they have no quality of life and are likely to die a slow and painful death. If the transplant fails, at least they will die knowing that no effort to save them was spared. If it succeeds – well, then they have made medical history. And, of course, still alive. OOM-Sergio Canavero Silver objects to the idea that Canavero gives someone one last chance at life. The memory of a transplant of the monkey head that he witnessed as a postdoc and the knowledge of what the patient could face is too much to overcome. “It looked horrendous,” he says of the monkey, “and in pain.” Although Canavero could melt some of the nerve and touch fibers,” says Silver, the pain could be unbearable. “Every muscle, bone, everything has been cut off,” Silver says. — Can you imagine the pain of all those cutting things? That's the worst part. The head will wake up in pain.” Although Canavero manages to connect the two ends of the spinal cord, the brain will not be able to take control of a new body, explains Ó hAilín. While it is true that our brains constantly reconnect from the day we are born to the day we die, it is wishful thinking to expect a brain to adapt its wires to a whole new body. ‘What happens if these wires do not join?’ says Ó hAilín. Doctors also fear how the body will react to its new brain. At each transplant, the body sees the new organ or limb as foreign tissue, and the immune system attacks it. Patients who have a transplant must take immunosuppressive medicines for the rest of their lives to prevent this rejection. And if the immune system attacks the new part despite the drugs, it must be removed. Canavero dismisses this problem, sure that a rejection of the head can be handled in the same way as a kidney or a heart. But there is no evidence that immunosuppressive agents can overcome a body's reflexive rejection of a new brain. There is also a potentially staggering psychological effect. The brain may not be able to accept its new body, a phenomenon seen in other transplant operations. Clint Hallam, the world's first hand transplant patient, had it removed after being "mentally detached" from it—he could not see it as part of his own body. GERARD MALIE/AFP/Getty Images None of this applies to Canavero. He believes that if his patient survives the operation, they can deal with any subsequent problems when they arise. In the 1960s, Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first heart transplant, doing several things that today would probably be considered unethical – technically, perhaps the donors he removed beat hearts from had not been dead. Barnard must also have known that some people would die as a result of his surgery, but he continued anyway, and now heart transplants are a common – and lifesaving – procedure. Canavero is aware of the danger and places some responsibility on the patient, who has volunteered. — Let’s not be stupid — this is a risky operation. But informed consent means that the person who goes under [my knife] knows very well what lies ahead and is in such a crippling state that there is no other strategy for them.” He also points out that uncertainty is part of medical progress. Genetic editing and immunotherapy techniques that are currently being developed also pose risks, says Canavero. An immunotherapy study had to be put on hold last year after the death of three patients. Canavero sees his upcoming operation as a blessing not only to people in need of spinal cord surgery but to all of humanity. The medicine, he says, has failed us. Despite all our best research efforts, we still do not have a cure for cancer, HIV, malaria and countless other deadly conditions. Breakthrough, he believes, comes only by taking risks. If the operation succeeds, would provide a treatment option for people with quadriplegia or muscle dropping diseases that make them unable to move. For example, a body full of cancer could be replaced. The most radical possibility is that transplant heads can lead to a form of immortality – changing an old body to a new one whenever needed, such as changing the tires of a car. The many issues related to Canavero's plan remain unresolved (to put it mildly), but his team plans to perform the operation in December. If it succeeds, Canavero becomes a giant in the history of medical research. And if the operation fails, he will try again. He knows it's the only way forward. PHOTOS PIERO MARTINELLO IN GUARDIAN (Für die deutsche Version des Article click Sie bitte hier) Four years ago, his announcement was presented in all global media: Prof. Sergio Canavero, known neurosurgeon from Turin, plans the world's first transplant of a human head. The ensuing outcry resonated loudly across the medical profession: many experts agreed that such a commitment would never be successful, even less in the next decades. However, along with various teams in the United States, China, and South Korea, the author of more than 140 scientific publications continued to pursue the plan he called HEAVEN (Head Anastomosis Venture). In its GEMINI protocol, Canavero describes every necessary step of the procedure in detail, as described in an instruction manual. While the media covered his projects in thousands of features published and broadcast around the world from CNN to the New York Times, from Independent to Guardian, Sergio Canavero reached one milestone after another. In an exclusive interview with OOOM, the medical pioneer now reveals for the first time the facts about a procedure that may not only fundamentally change medicine but also the lives of millions of people in wheelchairs: the world's first transplant of human head will be performed within the next ten months. The procedure will be carried out in China. Experienced surgeon Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University, a close friend of Canavero, will lead the surgical team performing the head transplant. He was previously part of the operations team at the first-hand transplant in the United States. The first main transplant patient will not be Russian Valery Spiridonov but a Chinese citizen. There are already potential candidates for the operation. Meanwhile, Professor Canavero is already planning his next coup: the world's first brain transplant, which is expected to take place in three years' time. He's already started putting together a team for the procedure. To this end, it is already in the planning of the first Life Extension Institute – a facility where such procedures could be implemented in the future. Unbelievable results. Xiaoping Ren will announce the exact schedule for the head transplant at a press conference in China for the next two months. Many experiments have already been carried out and, according to Professor Canavero, have produced “credible results, which will change the course of medicine.” Dr Ren will publish his findings in leading medical journals in the near future. The world’s first head transplant reportedly represents significantly fewer surgical and medical obstacles than previously adopted. The duration of the procedure is reportedly significantly shorter than 72 hours. “I can only congratulate my friend and colleague Xiaoping Ren; his performance is a master move,” says Canavero. In an exclusive interview with OOOM personally authorised by Prof. Canavero, he states – for the first time – facts about the groundbreaking procedure. XIAOPING REN. This investigation will lead the first transfer procedure. Professor Canavero, four months ago, New York Time announced in a five-row piece that the world's first head transplant would be carried out in December 2017 in the Chinese city of Harbin. So far, this has not been confirmed. Are these reports correct? Yeah, they're right. The world’s first human head transplant will be carried out in less than ten months. The Chinese medical team is led on the spot by Dr. Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University, a close friend of mine and an excellent surgeon. The operation will be conducted in Harbin. What can you tell me concretely about the operation? At present, there is nothing in detail. When the time comes, the official news will be announced by Xiaoping's team in China. At present, I can only reveal that there has been enormous progress in medical experiments that would have seemed impossible as recently as a few months ago. The milestones achieved will undoubtedly revolutionize medicine. I can tell you that already. We have just submitted the results of these studies for publication to known scientific medical journals, so we do not want to anticipate the upcoming publication. If the world's first head transplant will take place in China, then Russian candidate Valery Spiridonov will not be the first patient on whom the operation will be conducted. That's right. The first patient will be Chinese. THE NEW OOOM FROM 2017-05-05 Read the spring edition of OOOM for free online. Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero has announced further details of the plan to conduct the world's first head transplant operation. In one turn, the operation will no longer be performed on Valeri Spiridonov, a Russian man suffering from the muscular Werdnig-Hoffman disease, with which Canavero has worked for nearly two years. Instead, the operation will take place in China on a currently unelected Chinese citizen. A news release published Thursday by OOOM, the media company that handles Canavero press announced that Spiridonov, “who over a long period was considered to be the first transplanted patient, will not be the first person whose head will receive a new body.” It was unclear why Spiridonov was no longer involved. Georg Kindel, editor & editor-in-chief of OOOM, tells Newsweek that it was simply about where the operation will take place. “Since the main transplant will be carried out in China, it is much easier to get a Chinese donor,” he says. “That’s the main reason. I'm not sure if Professor Canavero has spoken to Valery in the meantime. I don't know about Valery's reaction. But if the main transplant succeeds – and we all hope and are confident that it will succeed – then it won’t be the last, so it will just be a matter of time when Valery will get a new body.” Canavero, in an interview with OOOM, said that the first human main transplant will take place within 10 months. He did not specify a date for the operation, but Kindel said the team is on the right track to implement it by the end of the year: "They have a tight schedule but the team in China says they are ready to do so. Professor Canavero always said that we will be ready by the end of 2017 and-if there is a strong power in China behind the project—it seems definitely will be by the end of this year or the beginning of next year that the entire procedure will be carried out. “At present, Canavero and Xiaoping Ren, at Harbin Medical University in China, have presented some evidence to convince the scientific community their plan will be a success. Canavero has previously given a brief overview of what they intend to do, but with relatively little detail of the steps involved. Research describing animal experiments has also failed to convince critics, many of whom say that we are nowhere near having the technology necessary to carry out such a complicated procedure. In the press release, Canavero said they have several papers on head transplants currently under peer review and will appear in ‘known scientific medical journals'—although he did not indicate which journals. “I can only reveal that there has been tremendous progress in medical experiments, which would have seemed impossible as recently as a few months ago,” he said. “The milestones we have reached will undoubtedly revolutionize medicine.” Asked why Canavero and Ren keep their research so well guarded secret – something for which they have been criticized in the past – Kindel said it has to do with the technologies they develop: “Are these procedures that can be patented? If that is the case, he says it will happen. “It’s the same as with pharmaceutical companies. They conduct research for several years and publish nothing, then at a certain stage they go out and inform the media and the public. See all the best pictures of the week in these slideshows Response to criticism from other researchers, he added: “There are so-called experts who have no experience because they have never done this before. They say ‘no this will never happen.’ Canavero has only one goal – he says ‘I’m working on it. We have the scientists, experts, teams in the United States, South Korea and China working on it and when we are ready to inform the public, we will do so.’” Several people working on the ground have also criticized the researchers on the basis that if they have the technology to repair the spinal cord – one of the most important parts of the operation – then they should develop this to treat people who are paralyzed, instead of holding it back for an operation that many think will not work. “[Repair of the spinal cord] was part of the entire research for the head transplant,” Kindel says. “In the beginning, they just tried their technique and thought it might work, but it works. It was amazing to the whole team. It's just part of the whole process. And if they can help the tetraplegia and paraplegics, then this is really a big step forward in medicine.” Kindel said he and the team know of no legal restrictions or regulations that would prevent them from performing the operation. In China, surgeons are now waiting for the journals to approve the studies they have submitted – then the results will be public."It's something that is completely new and that can change the medicine," he says. “If this works – and all studies seem to show that it will work – then this is really a big step forward for medicine in general.” Correction: This article referred earlier to Michael Sarr, editor of Surgery magazine, as a neurosurgeon when he is a surgeon. The interviewee also referred to quotes previously made by Sarr and which were incorrect. All references to Sarr have now been removed. The world’s first human head transplant has reportedly been performed on a corpse in an 18 - hour operation that successfully connected the spine, nerves, and blood vessels of two persons. The operation was performed by a team led by Dr. Xiaoping Ren at Harbin Medical University, China, who last year successfully grafted a head onto a monkey's body. Italian professor Sergio Canavero, director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, who has worked with the team, said they would "unremarkably" move to a living person who was paralyzed from the neck down. He told The Telegraph that electrical stimulation of the nerves proved that the operation on the corpse had been successful, and that... Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero is in the news again, claiming to have performed the first successful human head transplant. But even a quick analysis shows that he has not done so. And scientific logic suggests that he will never in February 2015, Sergio Canavero appeared in this particular publication and claimed that a living human head will successfully be transplanted into a donated human body within two years. He has appeared in the media a lot since then, but two years and nine months later, what does it look like? Yeah, he's just gone and did it! As we can see in this account of the telegraph of our day, the world’s first human head transplant has been successfully carried out. Guess all the more shy neurobods who said it couldn't be done (even myself) feel pretty stupid right now, huh? Not really. For looking past the triumphant and shocking headlines, the truth becomes very clear, very quickly. In the interest of full disclosure, I don't know Dr. Sergio Canavero, he hasn't done anything directly to me that I'm aware of. But I now seriously doubt his motives. I have discussed my reasons for this elsewhere in the past, but here they are again in a place to be easy to read. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Even the fictional Dr. Frankenstein had a better success. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images These “successful” procedures are anything but many of Canavero's past appearances in the media have been accompanied by claims of successful head transplant procedures. But, how do we define ‘successful’ here? Canavero definition appears to be extremely "generous" at best. For example, he recently claimed that he had “successfully” perform a head transplant on a monkey. But did he? While the monkey head apparently survived the procedure, it never regained consciousness, it was only kept alive for 20 hours for “ethical reasons” and there was no attempt to connect the spinal cord, so even if the monkey had survived in the long term, it would have been paralyzed for life. So, it was a successful procedure, if you consider paralysis, lack of consciousness and a lifetime of less than a day as indicators of “success”. It was also his "successful" rat head transplant, which involved grafting a severed rat's head onto another rat, a living one that still had its head left. Exactly how this counts as a “transplant” is someone’s guess. It is adding a (functionally useless) appendix to an otherwise healthy topic. And the last successful human head transplant? It was on corpses! Call me a perfectionist if you have to, but I really believe that any surgical procedure in which patients or subjects die before it even starts really extends the definition of “success” to breakpoint. Perhaps the procedure did a good show of ‘touching’ the nerves and blood vessels on a wide scale, but, so what? It's just the beginning of what it takes for a functioning body system. There's still a way to go. You can weld two halves of different cars together and call it a success if you want, but if you turn the key in the ignition explodes the whole thing, most would be hard pressed to back you up on your brilliance. Perhaps the techniques used to preserve the head and attach them have some scientific value, but it is still a long cry from the thought of someone walking around with a fully functioning body that is not the one they were born with. Canavero seems to have a habit of claiming child-storming triumph based on negligible accomplishments, or even after making things much worse. He appears to be the neurosurgical equivalent of Britain's Brexit negotiation group. Facebook Twitter Pinterest You expect copious details when it comes to performing a successful head transplant. So far, they are strangely absent. Photography: Alamy The crucial details are strangely overlooked The human body is not modular. You can't trade pieces around like you would Lego blocks, take a brick from the castle and put it on a pirate ship and make it work well. There are many obstacles to contend with when connecting a head to the body, even when it is the same person's. In recent years doctors have ‘retook’ a seriously damaged spinal cord in a young child, but the key word is ‘damaged’, not ‘fully severed’; there are enough connections to work with, repair and reinforce. And this is with a small child, with a still developing nervous system better able to compensate. Although all this and the advanced state of modern medicine were taken into account, the successful procedure was considered a miraculous borderline. So to attach a completely severed spinal cord, a fully developed adult, to another, one that may have been dead for days? It's, what's, at least four more wonders required? And that's not taking into account immune rejection, the fact that we don't really know how to "fix" damaged nerves yet (except connecting two unknown halves) and the issue of everyone's brain developing in harmony with their body. The latter point means that the ‘interface’ between the two is relatively unique. You put the musician's head on the body of a builder, it may well turn out to be like trying to play an Xbox game on a PlayStation. Except infinitely more traumatic. Of course, we do not know for sure, because no one has ever tried it. Canavero seems convinced that he can do so, but so far he has offered some possible explanation or science for his claims to be able to overcome these obstacles, beyond some symbolic things about preserving tissues and ensuring blood supply during procedures. It's kind of like someone claims they can build a functioning fusion reactor and, when asked how, explain how they're going to plumb in the toilets for the technicians. It is a useful step, but obviously not the main issue here. Facebook Twitter Pinterest TED Talks. Lick, inspiring, interesting, not exactly peer-reviewed. Photography: Alamy Stock Image Hype before substance I have said this before, even in a wired article about Canavero's past claims, to the extent I consider branding it as “Burnett's law”. Simply put; if someone makes large scientific claims but has not provided robust evidence for them, yet they have made a TED number, alarm bells should ring. I don't know what the trust of Canavero is based on. No one seems to. He has not published anything that would justify it so far. Note his recently “successful” human head transplant claims, which you can read about in Telegraph before he has published the actual results, as stated in the article. Why? Why tell the papers before you tell your peers? If your procedure is rigorous and reliable enough, the data should reflect it. When scientists, especially self-proclaimed “mavericks”, court publicity but desperately avoid scrutiny, it is never an encouraging sign. According to the article in Telegraph, Canavero claims that the next step will be to attempt a transplant with someone in a vegetative state or similar. He also claims to have plenty of volunteers for this. Exactly how coma patients actively volunteered for this radical procedure is someone's guess. There is yet no mention of trying it in a conscious person, despite the fact that there are actual volunteers for it. I suspect it will never be so. Trying it with a conscious, thinking person means that it absolutely must be 100% effective for them to remain in this condition after the transplant is complete. This would mean finding workable solutions to all the significant obstacles posed by the concept of head transplantation itself. If I am wrong about this, I am happy to take everything back and apologize, but nothing Canavero has said or done so far makes me think he has any idea how to do this. Dean Burnett is fully aware that the procedure should logically be called a “body transplant” but that’s not how it is usually described, so has used the more common terms. His book The Idiot Brain is now available, in Britain and the United States and elsewhere. Write a summary.
– Det första steget i det som USA Today säger skulle vara en "audacious" terapi enligt uppgift ägde rum i Kina fredag: världens första transplantation av mänskligt huvud, som åstadkoms med två lik. Och Sergio Canavero – den italienske läkaren bakom den påstådda proceduren, säger att han planerar att göra samma sak härnäst på två hjärndöda patienter, följt av en "ominerande" operation med en levande, rapporterar Telegraph. Per Newsweek beskrev Canavero proceduren fredag vid en presskonferens i Wien och förklarade att hans team hade tagit huvudet av en kropp och placerat det på en annan, vilket blandade ryggraden, blodkärlen och nerverna. Förfarandet med en levande patient kommer att ske i Kina i december, främst på grund av att USA och Europa vägrar att ta emot den. Medicinska experter säger att det inte har gjorts tillräckligt med studier eller prövningar, och nämner både etiska frågor och potentialen för "otrolig smärta". Mysteriet omger den levande patienten i mitten av stormen, vars friska huvud skulle överföras till den sjukdomsfria kroppen av en hjärndöd patient – tekniskt sett gör detta till en "kroppstransplantation", inte en huvudtransplantation, konstaterar USA Today. Den mottagaren sades ursprungligen vara 33-årige ryssen Valerij Spiridonov, som lider av en muskelspillningssjukdom. Men en aprilutgåva som citerats av Newsweek sade att en kinesisk medborgare skulle genomgå förfarandet, inte Spiridonov, och tidskriften på fredagen citerade Canavero som att säga ett "högt antal" människor har frivilligt. Canavero ger proceduren 90 % chans att lyckas. Under tiden har en kolumnist från Guardian tagit avstånd från Canavero arbete. "Människokroppen är inte modulär", skriver Dean Burnett. "Man kan inte byta bitar som om man vore Legoblock." (Canavero, långt tillbaka i tiden när allt började.)
“The first step in what USA Today says would be an “audacious” therapy reportedly took place in China Friday: the world’s first human head transplant, which was accomplished with two corpses. And Sergio Canavero – the Italian doctor behind the alleged procedure, says he plans to do the same next on two brain-dead patients, followed by an "ominating" operation with a live one, reports Telegraph. Describing the Canavero procedure Friday at a press conference in Vienna, Per Newsweek explained that his team had taken the head off one body and placed it on another, mixing the spine, blood vessels and nerves. The procedure with a live patient will take place in China in December, mainly because the United States and Europe refuse to accept it. Medical experts say that there have not been enough studies or trials, mentioning both ethical issues and the potential for "incredible pain". The mystery surrounds the living patient in the middle of the storm, whose healthy head would be transferred to the disease-free body by a brain-dead patient – technically making this a "body transplant", not a head transplant, states USA Today. That recipient was originally said to be 33-year-old Russian Valeri Spiridonov, who suffers from a muscle dropping disease. But an April edition quoted by Newsweek said a Chinese citizen would undergo the procedure, not Spiridonov, and the magazine on Friday quoted Canavero as saying a "high number" of people have voluntarily. Canavero gives the procedure 90% chance of success. Meanwhile, a columnist from the Guardian has distanced himself from Canavero work. "The human body is not modular," writes Dean Burnett. "You can't change pieces like you're Lego Blocks." (Canavero, way back in time when it all started.)