WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million OP!
Sat Nov 19, 2016 2:09 am
RUSSIA-SCIENCE-HEALTH-DISABLED
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero introduces to the stage Spiridonov, who has volunteered to be Canavero's test patient. (YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Surgeon Sergio Canavero has become something of a pariah in the medical world with some nicknaming him ‘Dr Frankenstein’ for his plans to carry out the world’s first head transplant.
But the maverick surgeon plans to go ahead with the operation nonetheless. In fact, he says the most ambitious surgery in human history will be carried out in China next year.
He has his patient, Russian Valery Spiridonov, who lives with Werdnig-Hoffman disease, a physically debilitating illness.
The surgery will involve transplanting Spiridonov’s head onto that of a braindead patient with an able body.
What is Werdnig-Hoffmann disease?
Werdnig-Hoffmann disease causes severe muscle weakness, which can result in problems moving, eating, breathing and swallowing.
Most children with the disease die in the first few years of life.
Spiridonov is already something of a medical miracle having survived Werdnig-Hoffman disease until the age of 31, making him one of less than ten percent of sufferers who make it to adulthood.
‘The sharpest blade in the world’
The showboating surgeon is drip-feeding the medical community vital information on the technique for the operation in the buildup to 2017’s big event.
He unveiled the knife that will be used to sever Spiridonov’s head and a complex virtual reality system that will get him used to having a functioning body, at a Glasgow neuro conference on Friday.
VR
The virtual reality system to prepare patients of HEAVEN, the Head Anastomosis Venture, founded by Canavero, for their transition to a new body. Anastomosis is the cross-connection of various channels, tubes and fibres to form a network.
“[The creator] has developed probably the sharpest and most precise blade in the world,” said Canavero. “It will allow a clear cut of the spinal cord with a minimal impact on the nerves.”
‘Bodily freedom’
But even before the operation has begun, Spiridonov will undergo months of virtual reality training to get him used to having control over his body.
“The virtual reality system prepares the patient in the best possible way for a new world that he will be facing with his new body,” Prof. Canavero said.
“A world in which he will be able to walk again.”
First human head transplant
The virtual reality system. INVENTUM for HEAVEN/www.headtransplantation.org
Spiridonov found out about the trailblazing surgeon online and began chatting with him by email, before offering himself up as a human guinea pig for the first surgery of its kind.
In a Facebook post, Spiridonov said:
“Let me explain how this all happened. I’m 31 years old now, and for the most part of my life, in fact as long as I remember myself, I’ve lived with my diagnosis. I can’t lift heavy objects, or walk on my own. With this diagnosis the range of things people can do on their own is very much limited. In my case, this is pushing buttons on electronic devices, using the joystick on my wheelchair.
“At the age of 10-12 years old I learned about an American scientist named Robert White who carried out unusual and radical experiments on animals, which were met with mixed reaction at that time – the famous experiments of head or body transplantation on monkeys.
“I already had a complete understanding of what my diagnosis would mean for me, I understood that it was an irreversible and permanent thing, and after seeing White’s works I understood that it could be interesting for me too.”
How it will work
1) Two people will lie on surgical tables – one will be Spiridonov, who has little use of his body, and the other a man with a perfectly-functioning body, who is braindead. Their heads will be close together, their bodies facing outwards
2) Spiridonov will be cooled to ten degrees. The two heads will be severed with the ultra-sharp blade, then Canavero will attempt to fuse Spiridonov’s head onto the able body of the braindead man.
3) This will kickstart an epic surgery estimated to take 36 to 72 hours and involve around 150 medics. It’s estimated the surgery will cost at least £12 million.
4) Spridonov will be kept in a coma for about three weeks and fed an extreme diet of immunosuppressant drugs to stop his body being rejected.
If it does work, it will be rarely used
Many leading neurologists are sceptical about the potential for the surgery’s success and some refused to comment for the purposes of this article.
But Michael Sarr, editor-in-chief of American medical journal Surgery, has come round to thinking the transplant could be a genuine possibility.
“If it works, and there is good data to suggest it might, it will rarely be used,” he said.
“When you transplant a head to a body, you connect a spinal chord, bones, muscles, oesophagus, arteries, veins, also several other nerves along the swallowing tube. Each has its own complications and they’re not insignificant. The complications are also greater altogether.”
As for why the surgery is being carried out in China, Sarr said: “It would never be approved in England, Europe or the US because its never been done before on an animal.”
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero introduces to the stage Spiridonov, who has volunteered to be Canavero's test patient. (YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Surgeon Sergio Canavero has become something of a pariah in the medical world with some nicknaming him ‘Dr Frankenstein’ for his plans to carry out the world’s first head transplant.
But the maverick surgeon plans to go ahead with the operation nonetheless. In fact, he says the most ambitious surgery in human history will be carried out in China next year.
He has his patient, Russian Valery Spiridonov, who lives with Werdnig-Hoffman disease, a physically debilitating illness.
The surgery will involve transplanting Spiridonov’s head onto that of a braindead patient with an able body.
What is Werdnig-Hoffmann disease?
Werdnig-Hoffmann disease causes severe muscle weakness, which can result in problems moving, eating, breathing and swallowing.
Most children with the disease die in the first few years of life.
Spiridonov is already something of a medical miracle having survived Werdnig-Hoffman disease until the age of 31, making him one of less than ten percent of sufferers who make it to adulthood.
‘The sharpest blade in the world’
The showboating surgeon is drip-feeding the medical community vital information on the technique for the operation in the buildup to 2017’s big event.
He unveiled the knife that will be used to sever Spiridonov’s head and a complex virtual reality system that will get him used to having a functioning body, at a Glasgow neuro conference on Friday.
VR
The virtual reality system to prepare patients of HEAVEN, the Head Anastomosis Venture, founded by Canavero, for their transition to a new body. Anastomosis is the cross-connection of various channels, tubes and fibres to form a network.
“[The creator] has developed probably the sharpest and most precise blade in the world,” said Canavero. “It will allow a clear cut of the spinal cord with a minimal impact on the nerves.”
‘Bodily freedom’
But even before the operation has begun, Spiridonov will undergo months of virtual reality training to get him used to having control over his body.
“The virtual reality system prepares the patient in the best possible way for a new world that he will be facing with his new body,” Prof. Canavero said.
“A world in which he will be able to walk again.”
First human head transplant
The virtual reality system. INVENTUM for HEAVEN/www.headtransplantation.org
Spiridonov found out about the trailblazing surgeon online and began chatting with him by email, before offering himself up as a human guinea pig for the first surgery of its kind.
In a Facebook post, Spiridonov said:
“Let me explain how this all happened. I’m 31 years old now, and for the most part of my life, in fact as long as I remember myself, I’ve lived with my diagnosis. I can’t lift heavy objects, or walk on my own. With this diagnosis the range of things people can do on their own is very much limited. In my case, this is pushing buttons on electronic devices, using the joystick on my wheelchair.
“At the age of 10-12 years old I learned about an American scientist named Robert White who carried out unusual and radical experiments on animals, which were met with mixed reaction at that time – the famous experiments of head or body transplantation on monkeys.
“I already had a complete understanding of what my diagnosis would mean for me, I understood that it was an irreversible and permanent thing, and after seeing White’s works I understood that it could be interesting for me too.”
How it will work
1) Two people will lie on surgical tables – one will be Spiridonov, who has little use of his body, and the other a man with a perfectly-functioning body, who is braindead. Their heads will be close together, their bodies facing outwards
2) Spiridonov will be cooled to ten degrees. The two heads will be severed with the ultra-sharp blade, then Canavero will attempt to fuse Spiridonov’s head onto the able body of the braindead man.
3) This will kickstart an epic surgery estimated to take 36 to 72 hours and involve around 150 medics. It’s estimated the surgery will cost at least £12 million.
4) Spridonov will be kept in a coma for about three weeks and fed an extreme diet of immunosuppressant drugs to stop his body being rejected.
If it does work, it will be rarely used
Many leading neurologists are sceptical about the potential for the surgery’s success and some refused to comment for the purposes of this article.
But Michael Sarr, editor-in-chief of American medical journal Surgery, has come round to thinking the transplant could be a genuine possibility.
“If it works, and there is good data to suggest it might, it will rarely be used,” he said.
“When you transplant a head to a body, you connect a spinal chord, bones, muscles, oesophagus, arteries, veins, also several other nerves along the swallowing tube. Each has its own complications and they’re not insignificant. The complications are also greater altogether.”
As for why the surgery is being carried out in China, Sarr said: “It would never be approved in England, Europe or the US because its never been done before on an animal.”
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Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 12:39 pm
Awesome.
Can't see it working though.
Can't see it working though.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 1:08 pm
I must admit I was facinated by this article and the possible implications of it. For a start this bloke is going to be an overnight celebrity and things you an I take for granted would all seem like miracles!
Can you imagine if he ran a marathon, the press would have a field day! Good luck to him, you cant blame him for using the only possible way to get his indipendance plus possibly massive fame! If the risk really is 90% its got to be worth a go, I cant see it though with the complications even with all the best surgeons in the world queuing up to be a part of history.
Can you imagine if he ran a marathon, the press would have a field day! Good luck to him, you cant blame him for using the only possible way to get his indipendance plus possibly massive fame! If the risk really is 90% its got to be worth a go, I cant see it though with the complications even with all the best surgeons in the world queuing up to be a part of history.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 3:56 pm
Next will be a full body transplant.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 5:05 pm
So the brain dead guy just dies then?
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 5:11 pm
He's dead anyway.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:45 pm
Wurzel gummidge been doing it for years ask any brizzle shitty fan.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 7:31 pm
skiprat wrote:Wurzel gummidge been doing it for years ask any brizzle shitty fan.
I bet it didnt cost him 12 mill each time though!
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 7:34 pm
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sat Nov 19, 2016 7:44 pm
If it was possible then surely they would do it on an animal first?
Sounds like a huge PR stunt for an attention hungry surgeon that will obviously cost the lives of two people.
Sounds like a huge PR stunt for an attention hungry surgeon that will obviously cost the lives of two people.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sun Nov 20, 2016 6:58 am
He must be off his head
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Sun Nov 20, 2016 12:06 pm
Old news. Frank Enstein from Ely did this years ago with a rusty stanley and a bottle of sticky-sticky.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 4:10 pm
Dahboy wrote:Next will be a full body transplant.
It's the same thing mate... Think about it...
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 4:58 pm
lyndipops wrote:RUSSIA-SCIENCE-HEALTH-DISABLED
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero introduces to the stage Spiridonov, who has volunteered to be Canavero's test patient. (YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Surgeon Sergio Canavero has become something of a pariah in the medical world with some nicknaming him ‘Dr Frankenstein’ for his plans to carry out the world’s first head transplant.
But the maverick surgeon plans to go ahead with the operation nonetheless. In fact, he says the most ambitious surgery in human history will be carried out in China next year.
He has his patient, Russian Valery Spiridonov, who lives with Werdnig-Hoffman disease, a physically debilitating illness.
The surgery will involve transplanting Spiridonov’s head onto that of a braindead patient with an able body.
What is Werdnig-Hoffmann disease?
Werdnig-Hoffmann disease causes severe muscle weakness, which can result in problems moving, eating, breathing and swallowing.
Most children with the disease die in the first few years of life.
Spiridonov is already something of a medical miracle having survived Werdnig-Hoffman disease until the age of 31, making him one of less than ten percent of sufferers who make it to adulthood.
‘The sharpest blade in the world’
The showboating surgeon is drip-feeding the medical community vital information on the technique for the operation in the buildup to 2017’s big event.
He unveiled the knife that will be used to sever Spiridonov’s head and a complex virtual reality system that will get him used to having a functioning body, at a Glasgow neuro conference on Friday.
VR
The virtual reality system to prepare patients of HEAVEN, the Head Anastomosis Venture, founded by Canavero, for their transition to a new body. Anastomosis is the cross-connection of various channels, tubes and fibres to form a network.
“[The creator] has developed probably the sharpest and most precise blade in the world,” said Canavero. “It will allow a clear cut of the spinal cord with a minimal impact on the nerves.”
‘Bodily freedom’
But even before the operation has begun, Spiridonov will undergo months of virtual reality training to get him used to having control over his body.
“The virtual reality system prepares the patient in the best possible way for a new world that he will be facing with his new body,” Prof. Canavero said.
“A world in which he will be able to walk again.”
First human head transplant
The virtual reality system. INVENTUM for HEAVEN/www.headtransplantation.org
Spiridonov found out about the trailblazing surgeon online and began chatting with him by email, before offering himself up as a human guinea pig for the first surgery of its kind.
In a Facebook post, Spiridonov said:
“Let me explain how this all happened. I’m 31 years old now, and for the most part of my life, in fact as long as I remember myself, I’ve lived with my diagnosis. I can’t lift heavy objects, or walk on my own. With this diagnosis the range of things people can do on their own is very much limited. In my case, this is pushing buttons on electronic devices, using the joystick on my wheelchair.
“At the age of 10-12 years old I learned about an American scientist named Robert White who carried out unusual and radical experiments on animals, which were met with mixed reaction at that time – the famous experiments of head or body transplantation on monkeys.
“I already had a complete understanding of what my diagnosis would mean for me, I understood that it was an irreversible and permanent thing, and after seeing White’s works I understood that it could be interesting for me too.”
How it will work
1) Two people will lie on surgical tables – one will be Spiridonov, who has little use of his body, and the other a man with a perfectly-functioning body, who is braindead. Their heads will be close together, their bodies facing outwards
2) Spiridonov will be cooled to ten degrees. The two heads will be severed with the ultra-sharp blade, then Canavero will attempt to fuse Spiridonov’s head onto the able body of the braindead man.
3) This will kickstart an epic surgery estimated to take 36 to 72 hours and involve around 150 medics. It’s estimated the surgery will cost at least £12 million.
4) Spridonov will be kept in a coma for about three weeks and fed an extreme diet of immunosuppressant drugs to stop his body being rejected.
If it does work, it will be rarely used
Many leading neurologists are sceptical about the potential for the surgery’s success and some refused to comment for the purposes of this article.
But Michael Sarr, editor-in-chief of American medical journal Surgery, has come round to thinking the transplant could be a genuine possibility.
“If it works, and there is good data to suggest it might, it will rarely be used,” he said.
“When you transplant a head to a body, you connect a spinal chord, bones, muscles, oesophagus, arteries, veins, also several other nerves along the swallowing tube. Each has its own complications and they’re not insignificant. The complications are also greater altogether.”
As for why the surgery is being carried out in China, Sarr said: “It would never be approved in England, Europe or the US because its never been done before on an animal.”
From the picture the guy who is having the op looks like he's just been interviewed on the Jeremy Kyle show
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 4:58 pm
nubbsy wrote:Dahboy wrote:Next will be a full body transplant.
It's the same thing mate... Think about it...
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 5:55 pm
nubbsy wrote:Dahboy wrote:Next will be a full body transplant.
It's the same thing mate... Think about it...
Please tell me that your jokin too
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 5:56 pm
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 5:57 pm
OriginalGrangeEndBlue wrote:nubbsy wrote:Dahboy wrote:Next will be a full body transplant.
It's the same thing mate... Think about it...
crying here.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 8:17 pm
Dahboy wrote:nubbsy wrote:Dahboy wrote:Next will be a full body transplant.
It's the same thing mate... Think about it...
Lmao I'm afraid he isn't. Made me laugh when I read it. Heavens above. These people are loose on the street.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Tue Nov 22, 2016 10:42 pm
OriginalGrangeEndBlue wrote:nubbsy wrote:Dahboy wrote:Next will be a full body transplant.
It's the same thing mate... Think about it...
Thats a real Trigger moment.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Wed Nov 23, 2016 6:25 am
I actually assumed Dahboy was a bit slow, but misread the sarcasm and ended looking like a thick c**t myself haha
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:31 am
lyndipops wrote:I must admit I was facinated by this article and the possible implications of it. For a start this bloke is going to be an overnight celebrity and things you an I take for granted would all seem like miracles!
Can you imagine if he ran a marathon, the press would have a field day! Good luck to him, you cant blame him for using the only possible way to get his indipendance plus possibly massive fame! If the risk really is 90% its got to be worth a go, I cant see it though with the complications even with all the best surgeons in the world queuing up to be a part of history.
90% risk?! More like 99.999999999999999% risk.
The surgeon wants exposure, wants people talking about him, wants millions in interview deals etc etc think about it, if it was a procedure that worked, why wouldn't we try it on an injured animal first? The answer is because it obviously wouldn't work and that would be the end of the media obsessed surgeons fame, that is uktimately going to see the death of 2 people. Its all a bit horrific really.
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Wed Nov 23, 2016 11:44 am
nubbsy wrote:So the brain dead guy just dies then?
Lol
Re: WORLDS FIRST HEAD TRANSPLANT DUE NEXT YEAR! £12 million
Wed Nov 23, 2016 4:24 pm
EalingBluebird wrote:lyndipops wrote:I must admit I was facinated by this article and the possible implications of it. For a start this bloke is going to be an overnight celebrity and things you an I take for granted would all seem like miracles!
Can you imagine if he ran a marathon, the press would have a field day! Good luck to him, you cant blame him for using the only possible way to get his indipendance plus possibly massive fame! If the risk really is 90% its got to be worth a go, I cant see it though with the complications even with all the best surgeons in the world queuing up to be a part of history.
90% risk?! More like 99.999999999999999% risk.
The surgeon wants exposure, wants people talking about him, wants millions in interview deals etc etc think about it, if it was a procedure that worked, why wouldn't we try it on an injured animal first? The answer is because it obviously wouldn't work and that would be the end of the media obsessed surgeons fame, that is uktimately going to see the death of 2 people. Its all a bit horrific really.
The brain dead bloke would be dead already but he would have donated his body with a donor card. I couldnt see people queing up for that job somehow and im sure it would be a bit of a legal minefield too! As for the not tested on an animal its a 12 millon quid op so they might simply not have had funds to do it. They swapped a monkies head but didnt attatch the spinal chord. It did survive for a bit so perhaps it might work under the scrutiny of some decent surgeons. It is supposed to be a 90% chance of success not failure, although I think thats a bit exagerated! Perhaps the guys ego has it at 90%!
I wouldnt expect him to be mobile for quite some time after the op as the chord has to fuse and it could take weeks before he comes out of his medically induced coma. Put it this way he wont be entering any break dancing competitions straight afterwards!