User:JohnReitnauer/sandbox

The Idea
The history of the full-head transplant is relatively short as it was only first proposed in 2015. The overall reception of the idea seems to be negative as of right now, as there is little evidence to suggest that the proposed procedure is medically possible. It is questionable whether or not an attempt at this surgery is even within ethical to attempt. New surgeries often take many years of planning and intermediate clinical trials before they may be performed. This new surgery is potentially the most outlandish and bold procedure ever seriously proposed, and the medical world will hold its collective breath when/if this idea is ever actually attempted.

Other Attempts
According to R.M. Langer from the department of surgery and transplantation at Semmelweis University in Budapest, the soviets attempted head transplants on animals such as dogs and rats in the 1950's with some success. The head transplants worked when a head was attached to another, but the soviets could never pull off a full head replacement surgery in which a brain foreign to the body took over the duties of the central nervous system. In fact every full head replacement resulted in the death of the treated animal. No animal has been able to wake up or function at all after having its head replaced (1)

Overview
In 2015, Italian surgeon, Dr. Sergio Canavero boldly claimed that in 2017 he would perform the world's first "full-head" transplant, according to A. Welch, a longtime editor for CBS news(3). The surgery, or rather idea, is so complex that Dr. Canavero has recruited world-renowned surgeon Dr. Xioaping Ren, a chinese surgeon with over 30 years of orthopedic experience. Frank Vizard, an acclaimed writer and editor for Popular Science since the mid 1990's states that Dr. Ren is most well known for participating in the world's first hand transplant in 1999 on patient Matthew Scott (2). Dr. Ren's full hand transplant was also a bit controversial, but not nearly as controversial as his new venture with Dr. Canavero. Regardless, the scientific community is not comforted by Dr. Ren's involvement in the surgery, especially in his home country of China (4).

Controversy
Immediately following the dramatic announcement of the plan to operate, there were many questions. The first obvious question about this surgery was whether or not it was possible. This question has not had any resolution as the surgery has yet to be attempted, but many doctors still insist that the surgery is absolutely impossible. In addition to this bit of controversy, there was an ethical question of how to find a fitting subject to undergo this very risky and experimental procedure. This question, unlike the last, seems to have been resolved. Russian man Valery Spiridinov volunteered to undergo this procedure in an attempt to cure his degenerative order known as Werdnig-Hoffman. He believes that this surgery is his chance at having a normal life. According to R. Whitwam, technology editor for ExtremeTech explains that Dr. Canavero boasts that he can perform this surgery with a 90 percent chance of success, but many scientists fear that he is overestimating his own ability and ignoring the science of the central nervous system (4). One common sense concern is that complex surgeries often take a very long time and require surgeons to take breaks in order to stay sharp. It remains yet to be known whether or not this surgery's time constraints will play a role in making this surgery even more impossible than the scientific community agrees that it is.

Process (In Laymen's Terms)
Essentially this surgery consists of cooling the donor and recipient's sedated bodies to a very cold temperature in order to fend off cell death for an extended time. After the bodies are cooled, the heads are severed from their bodies and the recipient receives their new head through the use of enzymes that will (theoretically) mend the two separate segments of spinal cord tissue. Afterwards, the bones and muscles will be connected by an orthopedic surgeon and the patient will have a long-term induced coma in order to allow for healing. If the surgery is a success, it would likely require a very long rehabilitation time, but there is no way to know how long that period would be.