Credit by Google


The physical body , being the complex organic machine that it's , small issues within the organs or the genetic coding that keeps them running can resulting a number of horrible conditions, a number of them incompatible with life.

Through mankind's dedicated efforts in medicine, many parts of the body are often replaced with a live organ transplant.
There are limitations to the present , of course, and a few things seem firmly out of reach of medical science. Transplanting a person's head or brain to a new body, as an example , seems entirely out of the realm of reality. However, exactly that process made headlines when an Italian neurosurgeon, by the name of Sergio Canavero, announced that he was preparing to perform the primary head transplant of a living human.
Naturally such a procedure would require a willing volunteer, but with a procedure of this type , who would want to be the primary ever to go under the knife with only theories about what might happen to them? The answer was a Russian man named Valery Spiridonov.
Spiridonov, 30 years old at the time he was interviewed by media about his participation within the procedure, had chosen to volunteer due to a rare and incurable disease from which he was suffering. Werdnig-Hoffman disorder may be a disease of spinal muscular atrophy, which causes the muscles and nerves round the spine to waste. The surgery, because it was planned, involves taking Spiridonov's head and transplanting it on a dead , but otherwise healthy donor body. The brain would be separated from the medulla spinalis with a special, incredibly sharp scalpel, that might have the ability to cleanly cut the fiber bundles while minimizing tearing and other damage due to trauma. The brain would be cooled to 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit to attenuate the risk of cell death due to loss of oxygen, and when ready, would be transplanted onto the donor body.
The incision at the medulla spinalis would be surrounded with a special biological glue that would encourage cell growth and enable the connection of the spinal cord. The surgery itself was expected to require 36 hours, 150 trained doctors, and a complete cost of $11 million.
This last part, the biological glue joining the nerves and fibers of the medulla spinalis , would be absolutely essential to the success of the surgery. within the past, animal heads are successfully transplanted onto new bodies, but without the connection of the tract , the brains would only be kept alive by the flow of blood and oxygen, but would be during a state of total paralysis. The patient would then be put during a medically induced coma to prevent any movements that could disrupt healing, and would remain therein state for an extended period of time before being woken up. Naturally, this sort of surgery raises ethical and even personal questions. In 2015, Dr. Hunt Batjer, president of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons, said the subsequent .
"I wouldn't wish this on anyone. It doesn't take an excellent and well-educated neurosurgeon to understand why the risk of the operation going wrong could be severe and horrible, in ways both physical and existential.
Scientists still don't have a full coherent picture of how the brain generates or controls the experience of consciousness and perception. There is, as of yet, no thanks to understand what a brain is going through.
If the attempt fails, the person might be left alive but without any number of sensory inputs or control over their own body. they might be trapped in pain or never experienced by a person, with no thanks to communicate their suffering to the outside world and no way for doctors to verify their subjective experiences or emotional state.
Still, Spiridonov went on record saying that he understood the risks and was willing to place himself through it. chatting with Russia Today, he said the subsequent , "I'm very curious about technology and anything progressive that might change people's lives for the better.
Doing this is not only an excellent opportunity for me, but also will create a scientific basis for future generations, regardless of what the actual outcome of the surgery is." That was what I remembered of the story, having read it myself a pair of years ago.
I found myself brooding about the topic again for some reason, which is what spurred me to supply this. i noticed that I remembered the topic gaining substantial attention from the media and the scientific community, but that at some point it had quite fizzled out and I hadn't heard anything more. So i made a decision to look into it and find out what had happened with the procedure. Had it been canceled or indefinitely delayed for lack of any medical facility willing to host it?
Well, there had been some delays, but not exactly of that type. Originally slated to require place in 2017, Dr. Canavero had to delay the surgery to continue making preparations. The two also had a baby together, a son who has no indications of getting inherited the disease. Eventually, this led to Spiridonov retreating of the procedure.
"I cannot await surgery forever and my condition seems stable", he said. "I'm happy to mention I'm married and I have a beautiful kid now and I'm in charge of my own company." He found that each one of the time involved in the procedure would take him away from his family for too long, and this was unacceptable to him.
I can't help but sympathize with his position, and although this leaves us with an ambiguous ending to a story that could have revolutionized medical knowledge and possibility, i feel it's a happy turn of events that Spiridonov has found family and personal success in business, and now has things in his life that he's not willing to take the risk of the procedure.