Thursday, June 30, 2016

Head transplant 4

The world’s first ever human head transplant operation will take place in Germany, The Daily Star reported, citing Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero, who said he planned to operate in December 2017.

“Today, I am officially asking Germany to help me realize the first cephalosomatic anastomosis in human history on German soil and live up to what you are: a country that has set standards in medicine and technology for centuries,” Dr. Canavero said.

"In fact, German technology is already part of this incredible project I codenamed HEAVEN!”

Valery Spiridonov, a 30-year-old Russian computer programmer and wheelchair user who suffers from Werdnig-Hoffman disease, a debilitating and eventually fatal spinal muscular atrophy, has volunteered for the macabre operation.

The operation to fit the head of a living human being the body of a recently deceased person, will be performed as part of Project HEAVEN (HEad Anatomosis VENture) and is expected to last about 36 hours.

Dr. Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy recently presented the results of his experiments on rats conducted in South Korea, which proved that spinal cord fusion is really possible.

Canavero’s idea has caused controversial reaction among specialists, as some are convinced that the technology is disputable, but still vital and requires huge investments, while others believe it to be totally unsustainable.

In an interview with Sputnik Dr. Canavero said that inability to reconnect a severed spinal cord had always been a major problem, but experiments with rats using technology to be employed during operations on humans resulted in rats with re-fused spinal cords able to move again.

“What is really important here is that the fused spinal cords functioned again, which means that the door is now open to perform such operations also on humans,” he emphasized.

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160608/1040997134/canavero-head-transplant.html

7 comments:

  1. Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero and his Chinese colleague Dr. Xiaoping Ren are set to perform a two-part human head transplant procedure he dubbes HEAVEN (“head anastomosis venture”) and GEMINI (the subsequent spinal cord fusion).

    “Scientists everywhere now have hard proof of the viability of the Gemini Heaven protocol and I am sure that Russian surgeons will be interested in joining their Chinese colleagues’ effort in this field,” Dr. Canavero told Valery Spiridonov, who has volunteered to be the first person to undergo a head transplant under the Italian surgeon’s hands.

    In a series of articles published by the medical journal Surgery, Canavero and Xiaoping Ren wrote about the way the GEMINI protocol works to minimize damage to nerves, cells, prevent brain death from oxygen deprivation and excruciating pain following the head transplant operation.

    According to Dr. Canavero, the problem is that a severed head will take at least 30 minutes to be attached to the donor’s body and connected to the blood flow.

    As seven minutes is the maximum time the human brain can survive without oxygen and nutrients, both the body and head will be cooled so the cells don’t die when deprived of oxygen during surgery.

    Perphtoran – a blood supplement developed in Russia – will be used to supply oxygen to the brain.

    The head will then be moved on to the donor body and the two ends of spinal cord fused together using polyethylene glycol.

    The muscles and blood supply will be then stitched up and the patient put into a three or four-week coma to let the body heal itself while embedded electrodes stimulate the spinal cord to strengthen the new nerve connections.

    Chinese surgeons are already testing the new head transplant method on human corpses and also on monkeys and rats.

    http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160513/1039547459/head-transplant-details.html

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  2. Dr. Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy recently presented the results of his experiments on rats conducted in South Korea, which proved that spinal cord fusion is really possible.

    Russia, China and Vietnam have already offered financial help to bring Dr. Canavero’s plan to fruition.

    In an interview with Sputnik Dr. Canavero said that inability to reconnect a severed spinal cord had always been a major problem, but experiments with rats using technology to be employed during operations on humans resulted in rats with re-fused spinal cords able to move again.

    “What is really important here is that the fused spinal cords functioned again, which means that the door is now open to perform such operations also on humans,” Dr. Canavero said.

    According to Canavero, his good friend Xiaoping Ren at Harbin Medical University in China, performed a head transplant on a monkey. He connected up the blood supply between the head and the new body, but did not connect the spinal cord.

    Canavero said the experiment, which repeats the work of Robert White in the US in 1970, demonstrates that if the head is cooled to 15 °C, a monkey can survive the procedure without suffering brain injury.

    “The monkey fully survived the procedure without any neurological injury of whatever kind,” says Canavero, adding that the animal was kept alive for only 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons.

    When asked whether Russia planned to take part in the project, Dr. Canavero said that he had already discussed the matter with many Russian surgeons and scientists. They showed a great deal of interest in the project but said they did not have the money to make it happen.

    http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160201/1034048624/surgeon-head-transplant.html

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  3. Ren X, Orlova EV, Maevsky EI, Bonicalzi V, Canavero S. Brain protection during cephalosomatic anastomosis. Surgery. 2016 Jul;160(1):5-10.

    Abstract
    Cephalosomatic anastomosis requires neuroprotective techniques, such as deep hypothermia, to preserve brain activity. Despite the failure of pharmacologic neuroprotection, new strategies, including ischemic pre- and postconditioning and the use of Perftoran, have to be explored to complement hypothermia. This article summarizes the field of brain protection during CSA and these promising strategies.

    Canavero S, Ren X, Kim CY, Rosati E. Neurologic foundations of spinal cord fusion (GEMINI). Surgery. 2016 Jul;160(1):11-9.

    Abstract
    Cephalosomatic anastomosis has been carried out in both monkeys and mice with preservation of brain function. Nonetheless the spinal cord was not reconstructed, leaving the animals unable to move voluntarily. Here we review the details of the GEMINI spinal cord fusion protocol, which aims at restoring electrophysiologic conduction across an acutely transected spinal cord. The existence of the cortico-truncoreticulo-propriospinal pathway, a little-known anatomic entity, is described, and its importance concerning spinal cord fusion emphasized. The use of fusogens and electrical stimulation as adjuvants for nerve fusion is addressed. The possibility of achieving cephalosomatic anastomosis in humans has become reality in principle.

    Canavero S, Bonicalzi V. Central Pain Following Cord Severance for
    Cephalosomatic Anastomosis. CNS Neurosci Ther. 2016 Apr;22(4):271-4.

    Abstract
    One of the key obstacles to a successful head transplant is the possible onset of central pain, a chronic pain condition that would impair the quality of life of the transplantee. In this review, we provide the reader with a knowledge of this neglected aspect of the head transplant initiative and outline the management should this eventuality occur.

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  4. The head transplant juggernaut rolls on. Last year, maverick surgeon Sergio Canavero caused a worldwide storm when he revealed his plan to attempt a human head transplant to New Scientist. He claimed that the surgical protocol would be ready within two years and said he intended to offer the surgery as a treatment for complete paralysis.

    Now, working with other scientists in China and South Korea, he claims to have moved closer to that goal with a series of experiments in animals and human cadavers.

    “I would say we have plenty of data to go on,” says Canavero. “It’s important that people stop thinking this is impossible. This is absolutely possible and we’re working towards it.”

    The work is described in seven papers set to be published in the journals Surgery and CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics over the next few months. New Scientist has not seen the papers and has not been able verify the latest claims. The issue of CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics will be guest-edited by one of Canavero’s collaborators.

    The fact that Canavero has gone public with the latest results before the papers are published has raised eyebrows. “It’s science through public relations,” says Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at New York University School of Medicine. “When it gets published in a peer-reviewed journal I’ll be interested. I think the rest of it is BS.”...(continued)

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  5. (continued)Although we can’t verify them, New Scientist has seen images and videos of some of the procedures Canavero describes.

    These include the video above of mice sniffing and moving their legs, apparently weeks after having the spinal cord in their necks severed and then re-fused. C-Yoon Kim, at Konkuk University School of Medicine in South Korea, who carried out the procedure, says his team have demonstrated the recovery of motor function in the forelimbs and hindlimbs of the animals. “Therefore I guess it is possible to reconnect the [spinal] cord after complete severance,” he says.

    Canavero says Kim’s work shows that the spinal cord can re-fuse if it is cut cleanly in the presence of polyethylene glycol (PEG), a chemical that preserves nerve cell membranes. “These experiments prove once and for all that simply using PEG, you can see partial recovery,” he says.

    As well as the use of PEG, the procedure Canavero outlines in the papers includes techniques to aid recovery such as spinal cord stimulation and the use of a negative pressure device to create a vacuum to encourage the nerves to fuse.

    According to Canavero, researchers led by Xiaoping Ren at Harbin Medical University, China, have carried out a head transplant on a monkey. They connected up the blood supply between the head and the new body, but did not attempt to connect the spinal cord. Canavero says the experiment, which repeats the work of Robert White in the US in 1970, demonstrates that if the head is cooled to 15 °C, a monkey can survive the procedure without suffering brain injury.

    “The monkey fully survived the procedure without any neurological injury of whatever kind,” says Canavero, adding that it was kept alive for only 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons. New Scientist was, however, unable to obtain further details on this experiment.

    “We’ve done a pilot study testing some ideas about how to prevent injury,” says Ren, whose work is sponsored by the Chinese government. He and his team have also performed experiments on human cadavers in preparation for carrying out the surgery, he says...

    Caplan says Canavero should study nerve regrowth with PEG in people with spinal cord injury before attempting a head transplant. “There are hundreds of thousands of people who could benefit from something that would regrow the spinal cord. It’s like saying I want to fly to the next galaxy when it would be nice to set up a colony on Mars, and I think about the same odds.”

    Nevertheless, Canavero believes head transplantation is the only treatment that will work for paralysed patients. “Gene therapy has failed. Stem cells, we’re still waiting. Even if they come now, for these patients there is no hope. Tetraplegia can only be cured with this. Long term, the body decays, organs decay. You have to give them a new body because even if you take care of the cord, you’re going nowhere.”

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2073923-head-transplant-carried-out-on-monkey-claims-maverick-surgeon/

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  6. In a previous commentary, I offered my personal view as to the recipient-as-reproductive-being issue. I quote: “The fact that the gonads belong to the body donor is actually a facilitator for the whole enterprise. Imagine the parents of the brain dead body donor – racked by sorrow and despair for their loss – who are told that, once the new being will start reproducing, his or her offspring will actually be their (the donor's parents) descendants! Life out of death.” I offer another personal view: There is no way that I would uphold “sterilization” of the donor body. HEAVEN is about bringing life and allowing life to spread. At the same time, HEAVEN is not a cure for infertility!

    As for the age difference between recipient and donor, I don’t see this as an obstacle: HEAVEN is about life extension, too! We know that exposure to young blood can rejuvenate the brain, the heart, the liver, muscles, and more. Imagine what effect might ensue from a young donor body (say, in her 20's) nourishing with her young blood 24/24, 7/7 the head of an aging body recipient! Yes, life extension on a level that simple, periodic transfusions of young blood have no way to match.

    The real concern that needs to be addressed in this letter is whether one day HEAVEN is spun off as a cure for transsexualism (TS). Considering the dearth of donors for many needing new organs, this might seem like pushing the envelope. Yet, it makes sense starting the debate now...

    In January 2016, we proved to the world that HEAVEN is technically feasible. Initially, head transplants will be deployed for incurable conditions, then for life extension. TS is not yet on the agenda.

    Canavero S. Sex in heaven. Surg Neurol Int. 2016 Apr 27;7:49.

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  7. Dr Ren, 55, has built a team of young doctors preparing for his pioneering transplant by experimenting on rats, mice, pigs, monkeys and human corpses.

    His project is handsomely resourced, reflecting the country’s determination to become world leaders in science and technology . President Xi Jinping, shortly after taking office in 2013, implored scientists to strive for “innovation, innovation, innovation” to help fulfill what he calls the Chinese Dream.

    Now Dr Ren’s team at the Harbin Medical University are on the cusp of a macabre but remarkable realisation of their part of that dream.

    He has been called “reckless” and much worse by his peers in the scientific community – but there seems no shortage of volunteers for this historic surgery.

    Wang Huanming, a 62-year-old gas worker who is paralysed from the neck down, is said to be one of them. And if the science is ready – and that is a massive ‘if’ – Dr Ren is expected to take charge of the operation on Valery Spiridonov, a 31-year-old with severe muscular atrophy who faces the alternative of an early death as his bodily organs die.

    Last summer, Dr Ren carried out a head transplant on a monkey – albeit without any attempt to reconnect its spinal cord. The animal lived for 20 hours.

    He understands that the science must be perfected – and, equally importantly, head transplantation needs to shed its Frankenstein image.

    He heard the name of the fictional character only when he was a graduate doctor in America, where he was part of the team 20 years ago that carried out the country’s first hand transplant.

    But he says: “I am just doing my work as scientist. People can say, ‘You are Frankenstein’. I don’t care. I care about my job. I care about my science. We are getting closer to our goal of a human head transplant. I don’t have a timetable, but I’m not ruling out next year.”...

    “Many people say a head transplant is not ethical,” he says. “But what is the essence of a person? A person is the brain not the body. The body is just an organ.”...

    Dr Ren, a native of Harbin and a graduate himself of its medical university, returned to China after 15 years studying and working in the US. He left his wife and two daughters behind and gave up a position at the University of Cincinnati to pursue his single-minded transplant dream...

    Three key surgical issues must be solved: How to cut the spinal cord cleanly enough for it to be reconnected with nerves intact, how to maintain blood pressure to keep the brain alive, and how to avoid organ rejection after the transplant.

    Dr Ren says: “If these three issues were solved, you could come to me and ask, ‘When will do the first human head transplant?’ and I would reply, ‘Okay, tomorrow’.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/people-call-frankenstein--head-8232089

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