Graft a head onto a body. The project of an Italian neurologist is due to be presented shortly at an international congress. Many technical and ethical questions remain.
In 2013, the Italian neurologist Sergio Canavero had made a name for himself by publishing an article in the scientific journal Surgical neurology International. He said that grafting a whole body on a head would be possible within two years. This procedure could allow quadriplegic people to regain the use of a functional body.
Two years after the publication of this first article, the doctor still hopes to present his project this year, before the congress of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery, which will be held next June.
Precedents in monkeys
The neurologist thinks that this operation is feasible given the success obtained in animals. In the 1970s, after a long series of experiments, the American scientist Robert White succeeded in transplanting the head of a monkey onto the body of another animal of the same species.
He had survived two days but subsequently the lifespan of the other guinea pig animals was considerably lengthened. Nevertheless, they remained paralyzed, because the team of scientists had never been able to solve the problems related to the injuries suffered by the spinal cord.
Taking up this work, Dr Canavero, of the University of Turin, believes that the techniques for performing spinal cord reconnections have since improved greatly. He would have thus developed a surgical protocol which would allow the spinal cord of the donor and the recipient to be fused.
Rejection of the graft
What is certain is that the hypothesis of such an operation raises many questions within the scientific community. From the start of his project, however, the scientist seemed to have the answer to everything: “ The recipient’s head will be placed in hypothermia. Afterwards, we will stick the recipient’s head on the donor’s body, we will reconnect the marrow and the different tissues. If the patient survives the operation, he will then have to start a long recovery. The most difficult part is to reconstitute the continuity of the spinal cord, this detail is now regulated thanks to the use of chemical materials, which make it possible to re-establish the links between the nerve fibers ”, he explained.
But some of his colleagues are worried about the risk of rejection of the transplant. Some organs in the body, such as the liver or spleen, may not recognize the new brain. The body could therefore “reject” the head. And the anti-rejection treatment, used today by everyone with a transplant, might not be enough in such an extreme case.
Ethical and practical issues
Beyond the feasibility of the project, it is the ethical issues it raises that divide the scientific community. Some fear long-term drifts, for example that rich and elderly people, but in good health, want to benefit, to obtain a younger body. What if the recipient ever wants to have a child? His offspring will be that of the body donor, further complicating matters.
These questions nevertheless remain completely hypothetical, because such an operation would require practical means and very important funding, which Dr. Canavero has not yet obtained.
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