- Jan 8, 2011
- 22,361
UPDATE: Story is a Hoax (Rumor has it).
Read Full Post: Doctor Ready to Perform First Human Head Transplant
It's a 36-hour, $20 million procedure involving at least 150 people, including doctors, nurses, technicians, psychologists and virtual reality engineers.
In a specially equipped hospital suite, two surgical teams will work simultaneously - one focused on Spiridonov and the other on the donor's body - selected from a brain-dead patient and matched with the Russian for height, build and immunotype.
Despite the thoroughness of the presentation at the Annapolis, Maryland, conference, Canavero and Spiridonov faced vitriol and doubt. Spiridonov fielded a question about the ethics of this surgery by asking if anyone would like to be in his shoes: needing assistance with defecation and urination and living a life without sex. A hush fell over the audience.
The Russian said he would rather risk death in this experimental surgery to achieve a higher quality of life than suffer the burdens of his current existence. If he is going to die, Canavero said later, he is the only one who can decide.
--- End of Quote ---
Read Full Post: Doctor Ready to Perform First Human Head Transplant
It's a 36-hour, $20 million procedure involving at least 150 people, including doctors, nurses, technicians, psychologists and virtual reality engineers.
In a specially equipped hospital suite, two surgical teams will work simultaneously - one focused on Spiridonov and the other on the donor's body - selected from a brain-dead patient and matched with the Russian for height, build and immunotype.
"Both patients - anesthetized and outfitted with breathing tubes - will have their heads locked using metal pins and clamps, and electrodes will be attached to their bodies to monitor brain and heart activity. Next, Spiridonov's head will be nearly frozen, ultimately reaching 12 to 15 degrees Celsius, which will make him temporarily brain-dead.
Doctors will then drain his brain of blood and flush it with a standard surgery solution. A vascular surgeon will loop sleeve-like tubes made of Silastic (a silicone-plastic combination) around the carotid arteries and jugular veins; these tubes will be tightened to stop blood flow and later loosened to allow circulation when the head and new body are connected.
Then the two teams, working in concert, will make deep incisions around each patients neck and use color-coded markings to note all the muscles in both Spiridonov's head and that of the donor, to facilitate the reconnection.
Next comes the most critical step of all. Under an operating microscope, doctors will cleanly chop through both spinal cords - with a $200,000 diamond nanoblade, so thin that it is measured in angstroms, provided by the University of Texas.
Then the rush is on: Once sliced, Spiridonov's head will have to be attached to the donors body and connected to the blood flow within an hour. (When the head is transferred, the main vessels will be clamped to prevent air from causing a blockage.)
Surgeons will quickly sew the arteries and veins of Spiridonov's head to those of his new body. The donors blood flow will then, in theory, re-warm Spiridonov's head to normal temperatures within minutes.
If all that goes as planned, Canavero can then make good on his Dr. Strange inspiration with Gemini. The lengths of the transected spinal cord stumps will be adjusted so they're even, and the myelinated axons, the spaghetti-like parts of nerve cells, will be fused using a special type of glue made of polyethylene glycol, an inorganic polymer that Canavero says is the procedures true magical elixir. In this way, spinal cord function will be established by enabling the cytoplasm of adjacent cells to mix together.
Then it's time to make sure the spinal fusion is secure with a few loose sutures applied around the joined cord and threaded through the thin membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
To finish securing Spiridonov's head, the previously exposed vertebral arteries of the donor and Spiridonov will also be linked to achieve proper blood flow. In addition, the dura, the tough outermost membrane covering the brain and spinal cord, will be sewn watertight with wires and clamps.
Doctors will similarly reconnect the trachea, esophagus, vagi and phrenic nerves, along with all of the severed muscles, and plastic surgeons will sew the skin for optimal cosmetic results.
Throughout, doctors will ensure a suppressed immune system through medication, and after the transplant, doctors will regularly screen Spiridonov's blood for anti-donor antibodies while he lies in a drug-induced coma for four weeks to allow his brain to recover.
During that time, doctors will electrically stimulate the spinal cord to promote communication between neurons and improve Spiridonov's motor and sensory functions.
Once he awakens, Spiridonov will start his rehabilitation, including virtual reality training. Canavero predicts his patient will be able to walk three to six months after surgery."
Doctors will then drain his brain of blood and flush it with a standard surgery solution. A vascular surgeon will loop sleeve-like tubes made of Silastic (a silicone-plastic combination) around the carotid arteries and jugular veins; these tubes will be tightened to stop blood flow and later loosened to allow circulation when the head and new body are connected.
Then the two teams, working in concert, will make deep incisions around each patients neck and use color-coded markings to note all the muscles in both Spiridonov's head and that of the donor, to facilitate the reconnection.
Next comes the most critical step of all. Under an operating microscope, doctors will cleanly chop through both spinal cords - with a $200,000 diamond nanoblade, so thin that it is measured in angstroms, provided by the University of Texas.
Then the rush is on: Once sliced, Spiridonov's head will have to be attached to the donors body and connected to the blood flow within an hour. (When the head is transferred, the main vessels will be clamped to prevent air from causing a blockage.)
Surgeons will quickly sew the arteries and veins of Spiridonov's head to those of his new body. The donors blood flow will then, in theory, re-warm Spiridonov's head to normal temperatures within minutes.
If all that goes as planned, Canavero can then make good on his Dr. Strange inspiration with Gemini. The lengths of the transected spinal cord stumps will be adjusted so they're even, and the myelinated axons, the spaghetti-like parts of nerve cells, will be fused using a special type of glue made of polyethylene glycol, an inorganic polymer that Canavero says is the procedures true magical elixir. In this way, spinal cord function will be established by enabling the cytoplasm of adjacent cells to mix together.
Then it's time to make sure the spinal fusion is secure with a few loose sutures applied around the joined cord and threaded through the thin membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
To finish securing Spiridonov's head, the previously exposed vertebral arteries of the donor and Spiridonov will also be linked to achieve proper blood flow. In addition, the dura, the tough outermost membrane covering the brain and spinal cord, will be sewn watertight with wires and clamps.
Doctors will similarly reconnect the trachea, esophagus, vagi and phrenic nerves, along with all of the severed muscles, and plastic surgeons will sew the skin for optimal cosmetic results.
Throughout, doctors will ensure a suppressed immune system through medication, and after the transplant, doctors will regularly screen Spiridonov's blood for anti-donor antibodies while he lies in a drug-induced coma for four weeks to allow his brain to recover.
During that time, doctors will electrically stimulate the spinal cord to promote communication between neurons and improve Spiridonov's motor and sensory functions.
Once he awakens, Spiridonov will start his rehabilitation, including virtual reality training. Canavero predicts his patient will be able to walk three to six months after surgery."
Despite the thoroughness of the presentation at the Annapolis, Maryland, conference, Canavero and Spiridonov faced vitriol and doubt. Spiridonov fielded a question about the ethics of this surgery by asking if anyone would like to be in his shoes: needing assistance with defecation and urination and living a life without sex. A hush fell over the audience.
The Russian said he would rather risk death in this experimental surgery to achieve a higher quality of life than suffer the burdens of his current existence. If he is going to die, Canavero said later, he is the only one who can decide.
--- End of Quote ---
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