Human Head Transplant: Science fiction or a reality?

Italian neurosurgeon claims brain transplant surgery will be 90 percent successful

Over the years, science fiction has sparked the idea of real life transplant surgeries. The once fantasy of a brain transplant may soon become a reality.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - When Sergio Canavero, an Italian neurosurgeon, first publicized his intention to perform the first ever human "head transplant" by December 2017, as part of his "head anastomosis venture" or HEAVEN project, many were curious. His idea involves a 36-hour surgery, during which the head of a patient suffering from an incapacitating disease would be bonded at the spinal cord to a brain dead donor with an otherwise healthy body. Canavero argued that by employing his novel GEMINI protocol, the probability of success is around 90 percent.

But how well would his proposal stand against scientific criticism?

One of the major principles behind this procedure is that disconnected spinal cords possess the ability to reconnect, but spinal injuries smash up the millions of connections beyond restoration. Canavero contends that by slicing through the spine using an extremely sharp knife, the mostly intact fibers could rejoin with help from PEG glue and electrical stimulation.

According to Canavero, not only could the head be connected, it could also gain full control of the body. His claim is undeniably exciting, but the research simply doesn't support his statements that we now have the technology to make it feasible.

A more vigorous and constant development of this technology would be an important step in the spinal cord injury treatment and a promising first step towards understanding Canavero's vision.

As it seems now, we still have a long way to go before we can start performing head transplants. Even after we figure out how to fuse spines and restore connectivity, it is not certain whether the brain can refurbish itself to gain control of a new body.

We know from studies of hand transplants, that function can be restored to some extent, but even this varies in success with the technology we have. More disturbingly, though, are episodes of the immune system attacking the transplanted hand are tremendously common. This could be a disastrous situation following a head transplant, as the donor body's immune system could attack the head similarly.

To convince neuroscientists that this procedure actually works, more persuasive evidence is needed. Canavero explained an initial experiment would need to be performed on a primate model. For Canavero's ideal to be actualized, science has some enormous hurdles to jump.

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