Dr. Sergio Canavero, of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group (TANG) in Italy, first spoke of his plans to carry out the first human head transplantation in July 2013 - a project named HEAVEN-GEMINI.
At the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons' 39th Annual Conference in Annapolis, MD, in June, Dr. Canavero will proficiency updated plans for the project, addressing some of the in the back identified challenges that come behind than it.
Though researchers have seriously questioned the feasibility of Dr. Canavero's plans, it seems the first human head transplantation is a step closer to becoming a realism; Valery Spiridonov, a 30-year-old-fashioned-fashioned computer scientist from Vladimir, Russia, is the first person to volunteer for the procedure.
Spiridonov has Werdnig-Hoffman sickness - a rare genetic muscle wasting condition, with referred to as type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The condition is caused by the loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord and the brain region linked to the spinal cord. Individuals as soon as the chaos are unable to mosey and are often unable to sit on your own.
Spiridonov was diagnosed when Werdnig-Hoffman illness at the age of 1 and told MailOnline that he volunteered for HEAVEN-GEMINI because he wants the inadvertent of a added body in the by now he dies.
'"I can hardly control my body now," he said. "I craving urge harshly all day, every portion of part of one of minute. I am now 30 years dated, although people rarely flesh and blood to beyond 20 considering than this sickness."
Donor body will be attached to recipient's head through spinal cord mixture
Dr. Canavero told CNN he has usual an array of emails and letters from people asking to be considered for the procedure, many of which have been from transgender individuals seeking a supplementary body. However, the surgeon says the first people to undergo the procedure will be those as soon as muscle wasting conditions in front Spiridonov.
The procedure - which is estimated to recognize 100 surgeons in the region of 36 hours to unqualified - will involve spinal cord incorporation (SCF). The head from a donor body will be removed using an "ultra-talented blade" in order to limit the amount of blinking the spinal cord sustains.
"The key to SCF is a be admiring severance of the cords themselves," Dr. Canavero explains in a paper published earlier this year, "later its attendant minimal damage to both the axons in the white business and the neurons in the gray laminae. This is a key mitigation."
The spinal cord of the donor body will moreover be merged then the spinal cord of the recipient's head. Chemicals called polyethylene glycol or chitosan can be used to previously SCF, according to Dr. Canavero. The muscles and blood supply will in addition to be sutured.
The recipient will be kept in a coma for gone reference to 3-4 weeks, says Dr. Canavero, during which grow pass the spinal cord will be topic to electrical stimulation via implanted electrodes in order to boost the augment nerve friends.
The surgeon estimates that - in imitation of the establish of mammal therapy - the tolerant would be practiced to saunter within 1 year.
Spiridonov admits he is terrified just approximately undergoing the procedure. "Am I frightened? Yes, of course I am," he told MailOnline. "But it is not just the complete scary, but furthermore enormously tempting."
"You have to endorse on that I don't really have many choices," he subsidiary. "If I don't attempt this unintended my fate will be utterly depressed. With every year my come clean is getting worse."
Dr. Canavero branded 'nuts'
Dr. Canavero has in the to the front admitted there are two major challenges when HEAVEN-GEMINI: reconnecting the severed spinal cord, and stopping the immune system from rejecting the head. But he claims that recent animal studies have shown the procedure is "possible."
Unsurprisingly, however, researchers worldwide are severely skeptical of the proposal. Talking to CNN, Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of medical ethics and NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, NY, even called Dr. Canavero "nuts."
Caplan said the procedure needs to be conducted many more period as regards animals at the forefront it is applied to humans, growth that if the technique is feasible subsequently Dr. Canavero should be irritating to serve paralyzed patients forward attempting collective body transplants.
And telling off New Scientist earlier this year, Harry Goldsmith, a clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University of California-Davis, said the project is therefore "overwhelming" that it is the chances of it going ahead are unlikely.
"I don't have the funds for a sympathetic agreement it will ever events," he relationship, "there are too many problems abet on the procedure. Trying to save someone healthy in a coma for 4 weeks - it's not going to happen."
Spiridonov says he is nimbly au fait of the risks, even even if he is yet courteous to go along taking into consideration to a unintended upon Dr. Canavero.
"He's a completely experienced neurosurgeon and has conducted many omnipresent operations. Of course he has never ended anything moreover this and we have to think purposefully through the complete one of the realizable risks," he told MailOnline, but adds that "if you admiring something to be over and ended together in the middle of, you obsession to participate in it."
Though it not been avowed gone the procedure will be performed, Spiridonov says it could be as forward as adjacent year. Watch this environment.
At the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons' 39th Annual Conference in Annapolis, MD, in June, Dr. Canavero will proficiency updated plans for the project, addressing some of the in the back identified challenges that come behind than it.
Though researchers have seriously questioned the feasibility of Dr. Canavero's plans, it seems the first human head transplantation is a step closer to becoming a realism; Valery Spiridonov, a 30-year-old-fashioned-fashioned computer scientist from Vladimir, Russia, is the first person to volunteer for the procedure.
Spiridonov has Werdnig-Hoffman sickness - a rare genetic muscle wasting condition, with referred to as type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The condition is caused by the loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord and the brain region linked to the spinal cord. Individuals as soon as the chaos are unable to mosey and are often unable to sit on your own.
Spiridonov was diagnosed when Werdnig-Hoffman illness at the age of 1 and told MailOnline that he volunteered for HEAVEN-GEMINI because he wants the inadvertent of a added body in the by now he dies.
'"I can hardly control my body now," he said. "I craving urge harshly all day, every portion of part of one of minute. I am now 30 years dated, although people rarely flesh and blood to beyond 20 considering than this sickness."
Donor body will be attached to recipient's head through spinal cord mixture
Dr. Canavero told CNN he has usual an array of emails and letters from people asking to be considered for the procedure, many of which have been from transgender individuals seeking a supplementary body. However, the surgeon says the first people to undergo the procedure will be those as soon as muscle wasting conditions in front Spiridonov.
The procedure - which is estimated to recognize 100 surgeons in the region of 36 hours to unqualified - will involve spinal cord incorporation (SCF). The head from a donor body will be removed using an "ultra-talented blade" in order to limit the amount of blinking the spinal cord sustains.
"The key to SCF is a be admiring severance of the cords themselves," Dr. Canavero explains in a paper published earlier this year, "later its attendant minimal damage to both the axons in the white business and the neurons in the gray laminae. This is a key mitigation."
The spinal cord of the donor body will moreover be merged then the spinal cord of the recipient's head. Chemicals called polyethylene glycol or chitosan can be used to previously SCF, according to Dr. Canavero. The muscles and blood supply will in addition to be sutured.
The recipient will be kept in a coma for gone reference to 3-4 weeks, says Dr. Canavero, during which grow pass the spinal cord will be topic to electrical stimulation via implanted electrodes in order to boost the augment nerve friends.
The surgeon estimates that - in imitation of the establish of mammal therapy - the tolerant would be practiced to saunter within 1 year.
Spiridonov admits he is terrified just approximately undergoing the procedure. "Am I frightened? Yes, of course I am," he told MailOnline. "But it is not just the complete scary, but furthermore enormously tempting."
"You have to endorse on that I don't really have many choices," he subsidiary. "If I don't attempt this unintended my fate will be utterly depressed. With every year my come clean is getting worse."
Dr. Canavero branded 'nuts'
Dr. Canavero has in the to the front admitted there are two major challenges when HEAVEN-GEMINI: reconnecting the severed spinal cord, and stopping the immune system from rejecting the head. But he claims that recent animal studies have shown the procedure is "possible."
Unsurprisingly, however, researchers worldwide are severely skeptical of the proposal. Talking to CNN, Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of medical ethics and NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, NY, even called Dr. Canavero "nuts."
Caplan said the procedure needs to be conducted many more period as regards animals at the forefront it is applied to humans, growth that if the technique is feasible subsequently Dr. Canavero should be irritating to serve paralyzed patients forward attempting collective body transplants.
And telling off New Scientist earlier this year, Harry Goldsmith, a clinical professor of neurosurgery at the University of California-Davis, said the project is therefore "overwhelming" that it is the chances of it going ahead are unlikely.
"I don't have the funds for a sympathetic agreement it will ever events," he relationship, "there are too many problems abet on the procedure. Trying to save someone healthy in a coma for 4 weeks - it's not going to happen."
Spiridonov says he is nimbly au fait of the risks, even even if he is yet courteous to go along taking into consideration to a unintended upon Dr. Canavero.
"He's a completely experienced neurosurgeon and has conducted many omnipresent operations. Of course he has never ended anything moreover this and we have to think purposefully through the complete one of the realizable risks," he told MailOnline, but adds that "if you admiring something to be over and ended together in the middle of, you obsession to participate in it."
Though it not been avowed gone the procedure will be performed, Spiridonov says it could be as forward as adjacent year. Watch this environment.
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