"The world's first human head transplant successfully" and Italian doctors insist in China, but the voice of doubts does not disappear

Byamy leonard

Sergio Canavero, an Italian doctor who has been raising discussions on pros and cons, advanced a project to transplant the human head to another body for some time has announced that it has successfully transplanted the world's first head in China. did.

World's first human head transplant a success, controversial scientist claims
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/11/17/worlds-first-human-head-transplant-successfully-carried/

First Human Head Transplant Successfully Performed on Corpse, Sergio Canavero Announces
http://www.newsweek.com/first-human-head-transplant-corpse-sergio-canavero-714649

Mr. Canavero announced at the press release held in Vienna, Austria that it succeeded in "head transplant" surgery. In an operation carried out jointly with Harbin Medical University in China, head transplantation was carried out using two bodies provided by the donor, and 18 hours of surgery to completely couple the spinal cord, nerve tissue, and blood vessel We announced that it was successful.Mr. Canavero's Facebook PageThen, the pattern of the interview is released in the video.

Mr. Canavero has been conducting research on head transplant surgery and has said that he has successfully transplanted his head in experiments using monkeys in the past. Many skeptical perspectives have been given to the claim that it has cleared the challenge of joining human organs, especially nerve cells, but Mr. Canavero used a banana to make a unique view on nerve damage Assertion. Mahatma Gandhi's words "In the beginning they will ignore, then laugh and challenge, so we will win" quoting the talk of the future of head transplantation in the following article can.

Projects "HEAVEN" and "GEMINI" that cut human heads and transplant them to others' bodies? - GIGAZINE


Canavero claims that it is possible to eliminate the problem of serious diseases that mankind suffers with head transplantation. The main point of that argument is that it can regain health by transferring the head to a healthy body if you can not expect to recover by suffering from heavy cancer, body paralysis, progressive difficult intractable disease. Of course, there are problems that you must clear, such as what to do with the donor that provides the body, whether there is no ethical problem in the first place, but to make the head transplantable as technology , It can be a step forward for a long way.

Canavero has declared that "We will implement human head transplant by 2017", and this announcement is in the form of its implementation. However, there are many skeptical voices about the contents of this announcement.

No, there has not been a successful human head transplant | Popular Science
https://www.popsci.com/first-head-transplant-human-surgery

The biggest factor that makes this announcement suspicious is the difficulty of joining the neurons of different bodies. Tens of thousands of nerve fibers are contained in the human spinal cord and it is considered impossible at present to stitch all of them exactly. Even if you put the spinal cord in a state of "connecting it" only as a form as it can not connect the nerve to connect two yarns, whether it actually functions or not is a totally different problem. Actually, Mr. Canavero said that he succeeded in reconnecting the spinal cord with a mouse in the past, but from expertsSkeptical views are shownAnd that.

Also, the fact that brain cells can not tolerate long-term surgery makes skeptical news of transplant success. If you are an organ such as heart or liver, you can save it without cooling the function for a certain period of time by cooling it, even if it is taken out from the body of the donor, but in the case of the brain blood flow Destruction starts just after it stops, and functions are lost rapidly. Actual methods are often unknown because details are not announced, but even if some measures are taken, it can not be thought that unprotected brain can endure for 18 hours of surgery, It is mostly a viewpoint.


Furthermore, it seems that unclear points remain for countermeasures against the immune system equipped in the human body. This time, surgery using the body provided by the donor is performed, but if it becomes a transplant surgery using the living body, there is always a problem caused by the immune system. Although it may be possible to reduce the influence by administering a medicine that suppresses rejection by the immune system, can it be said that the condition that suppresses adverse effects by medicine is "healthy", really is "transplant success" Whether it can be said, the doubt remains.

Popular Science also criticizes Mr. Canavero's attitude that it does not announce formal papers and the like and only publishes outcomes at a press conference. Criticism that not to take the form of a dissertation that can be scrutinized by other scientists by checking the content is to ignore science and to ignore that kind of thing can not be accepted Contents. In order to acknowledge the achievement in the scientific world, it is necessary to announce the contents in accordance with the format convinced by everyone and to undergo scrutiny by others, because the fact that "Escience Science" Even looking back on the riot is clear.

Mr. Canavero regards this achievement as "the first step to realize head transplantation" to the end, intends to continue research in the future. This time it was a surgery using the body of donor, but in the future I will talk about a plan to move to a transplant using a living organism who has received brain death judgment and ultimately a transplant using a complete living organism.