Sergio Canavero
Sergio Canavero (born 1964) is an Italian neurosurgeon who has been attempting to work towards human head transplantation.
Life and career
Canavero grew up in Turin, where he studied medicine and graduated from the University of Turin. He worked for 22 years as a neurosurgeon at the University Hospital Turin, but separated from the institution in 2015 due to increased opposition to his work.[1] He was the Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group. Canavero started to work on head transplantation in 1982.[2] In 1992, he published the first project for a full eye transplantation, one step towards brain transplantation (ref. Med Hypotheses. 1992 Nov;39(3):201-11.Total eye transplantation for the blind: a challenge for the future.Canavero S).He also worked out the genesis of central pain, a chronic pain syndrome that follows in several cases of spinal cord injury, a key step towards spinal cord fusion as required by a full head or brain transplant (ref. Canavero S, Bonicalzi . Central Pain Syndrome 3rd edition, SpringerNature 2018; https://www.amazon.com/Central-Pain-Syndrome-Sergio-Canavero/dp/3319567640).
In 2013 Canavero published a protocol that he said would make human head transplantation possible naming the project “HEAVEN” (head anastomosis venture).[3] Canavero has collaborated with Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University.[4] The first person to volunteer for the procedure was Valery Spiridonov, a Russian program manager, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a muscle-wasting disease.[4] Spiridonov has been presented as a possible patient, but is not likely to be the first.[1]
In November 2017 Canavero said that Ren and he had transplanted a head between two human cadavers (ref.First cephalosomatic anastomosis in a human model.Ren X, Li M, Zhao X, Liu Z, Ren S, Zhang Y, Zhang S, Canavero S.Surg Neurol Int. 2017 Nov 17;8:276). Simultaneously, they confirmed that the GEMINI spinal cord fusion protocol works both in rats and dogs (refs.: Restoration of motor function after operative reconstruction of the acutely transected spinal cord in the canine model.Liu Z, Ren S, Fu K, Wu Q, Wu J, Hou L, Pan H, Sun L, Zhang J, Wang B, Miao Q, Sun G, Bonicalzi V, Canavero S, Ren X.Surgery. 2018 May;163(5):976-983; Polyethylene glycol-induced motor recovery after total spinal transection in rats.Ren S, Liu ZH, Wu Q, Fu K, Wu J, Hou LT, Li M, Zhao X, Miao Q, Zhao YL, Wang SY, Xue Y, Xue Z, Guo YS, Canavero S, Ren XP.CNS Neurosci Ther. 2017 Aug;23(8):680-685)
Reaction
Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist, has dismissed Canavero's claims, writing "Head transplants are fake news. Those who promote such claims and who would subject any human being to unproven cruel surgery merit not headlines but only contempt and condemnation."[5]
References
- ^ a b Tom Lamont (October 3, 2015). "I'll do the first human head transplant". The Guardian. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ^ Sharon Kirkey (2017). "Head Case". National Post. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ^ Canavero, S (2013). "HEAVEN: The head anastomosis venture Project outline for the first human head transplantation with spinal linkage (GEMINI)". Surgical Neurology International. 4 (Suppl 1): S335–42. doi:10.4103/2152-7806.113444. PMC 3821155. PMID 24244881.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ a b Ross Kenneth Urken (April 26, 2016). "Doctor ready to perform first human head transplant". Newsweek. Retrieved November 18, 2017.
- ^ Albert Caplan (13 December 2017). "Promise of world's first head transplant is truly fake news". Chicago Trubune.
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