How is this even possible? Italian
surgeon, Sergio Canavero (pictured
above), believes that head
transplants are possible. That is
taking a patient’s head and grafting it
onto a healthy body. This will be for paralysed patients and those with
incurable illness. Dr. Canavero said
both heads would be removed at the
same time and then he would glue
the patient’s head onto the donor’s
body. Sounds to me like a crazy doctor. If you remove someone’s
head, is that not automatic death?
Biko read the report after the cut and
tell me maybe I’m the one who’s not
understanding it…before I yawere
trying to understand… Culled from Mail Online It sounds like the plot of a bad
horror film, but doctors are gearing
up to do the world’s first head
transplant.
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero
wants to take the head from someone with an incurable illness
and graft it on to a healthy body. He
claims the first operation could be
done in just two years’ time. The £7.5million body swap would
initially be used to give a new lease
of life to paralysed people – including
those with spinal cord injuries similar
to those sustained by the late actor
Christopher Reeve. People with muscle-wasting diseases
and those whose organs are riddled
with cancer could also have their
head put on a new body.
Those with motor neurone disease,
the condition suffered by Stephen Hawking and portrayed by Oscar-
winner Eddie Redmayne in the film
The Theory of Everything, might also
benefit.
Eventually, the technique could be
used to extend the life of healthy people in the ‘ultimate cosmetic
surgery’. Critics have described the plans as
‘pure fantasy’, but Dr Canavero claims
all the necessary techniques exist
and that he just needs to put them
together. It is already more than 40
years since the first monkey head transplant and a basic operation on a
mouse has just been done in China.
Dr Canavero already has a long list of
potential patients, and will announce
his plans at a top medical conference
this summer in a bid to get the backing needed to do the first
transplant in 2017.
The location has yet to be decided,
but the surgeon, from the Turin
Advanced Neuromodulation Group,
says he would love to do it in London.
The new body would come from a
normal transplant donor who is
brain dead. Both the donor and the
patient would have their head
severed from their spinal cord at the same time, using an ultra-sharp
blade to give a clean cut. The
patient’s head would then be moved
on to the donor’s body and attached
using a ‘glue’ called polyethylene
glycol to fuse the two ends of the spinal cord together.
The muscles and blood supply would
be stitched up, before the patient is
put in a coma for four weeks to stop
them moving while the head and
body heal together. If that doesn’t sound bizarre enough,
they would then be given small
electric shocks to stimulate their
spinal cord and strengthen the
connections between their head and
new body. When the patient is brought out of
their medically-induced coma, they
should be able to move, feel their
face and even speak with the same
voice, this week’s New Scientist
reports. Powerful immunosuppressant drugs should
stop the new body from being
rejected and intensive psychological
support would also be provided.
Dr Canavero says he believes it
would be ethically sound to carry out the procedure when people have no
other hope of a cure.
However, the ethical arguments
extend past the transplant itself.
For instance, if the patient went on to
have children, they would biologically belong to the donor
because the sperm or eggs would
have come from the new body.
Initially, a shortage of donors means
that the surgery would be limited to
those with severe illness. But eventually, it could be used to allow
healthy people to live longer.
Dr Canavero said that if science
reaches the stage when human
cloning is easy, a 60-year-old could
make a copy of themselves. They could then put their old head
on a new, healthy body made from
their own DNA – meaning they
would keep their memories and
personality.
William Matthews, chairman of the American Academy of Neurological
and Orthopaedic Surgeons, said: ‘I
embrace the concept of spinal fusion
and I think there are a lot of areas
that a head transplant could be used
but I disagree with Canavero on the timing.
‘He thinks it’s ready, I think it’s far
into the future.’
But Harry Goldsmith, a California
doctor who has carried out one of
the few operations that has allowed someone with a spinal cord injury to
walk again, said: ‘I don’t believe it
will ever happen.’ Culled from UK Daily Mail Blog Source : Linda Ikeji – 11:54 AM

It's already been done. There's a fisherman's head on a presidents body.

naso...we go carry am go him place na

nuttyhnic:
It's already been done. There's a fisherman's head on a presidents body.

This is a GOOD one. Very funny.

science is going places....