Scientists have been carrying out head transplants on animals since the 1970s, when a monkey`s head was moved to another monkey`s body; the resulting creature survived, paralyzed, for a few days. But so far, no one has attempted to put a human head on a different human body. That`s because, in part, they haven`t had a way to properly connect the donor body`s spinal cord up to the head, so the head-body hybrid would be similarly paralyzed below the transplant area.



But a new paper by an Italian neuroscientist says the technology now exists "for such linkage," Quartz reports.

The procedure Canavero outlines is very much like that used by Robert White, who successfully transplanted the head of a rhesus monkey onto the body of a second rhesus in 1970. First, both patients must be in the same operating theater. Then the head to be transplanted must be cooled to between 12°C and 15°C (54.6°F and 59°F). Moving quickly, surgeons must remove both heads at the same time, and re-connect the head to be preserved to the circulatory system of the donor body within one hour. During the reconnection procedure, the donor body must also be chilled, and total cardiac arrest must be induced.

Once the head is reconnected, the heart of the donor body can be re-started, and surgeons can proceed to the re-connections of other vital systems, including the spinal cord.

More about: