14 DAY TRIAL // Dr. Sergio Canavero of the University of Turin is convinced that, thanks to state-of-the-art technologies that have been developed over the years, attempting to attach a human head to a body it does not belong to might prove a successful endeavor.
Otherwise put, head transplants are now a “feasible enterprise.”
“The greatest technical hurdle to cephalosomatic linkage [head transplant] is of course the reconnection of the donor’s and recipients spinal cords. It is my contention that the technology only now exists for such linkage,” the researcher reportedly told the press.
In a paper recently published in the journal Surgical Neurology International, the Italian neuroscientist details the steps someone would have to follow to perform a head transplant surgery, provided that they were offered the chance to do so.
The Verge explains that, first off, this “someone” would have to procure a really sharp blade that would allow them to detach the head from the rest of the body in one clean cut.
“It is this 'clean cut' [which is] the key to spinal cord fusion, in that it allows proximally severed axons to be ‘fused’ with their distal counterparts,” the scientist believes.
Before the donor is decapitated, their head and spine would have to be cooled to 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
After the head was separated from the body, it would have to be drained of blood, Dr. Sergio Canavero says.
Only then could anyone attempt linking it to a foreign body with the help of a glue made from an inorganic polymer.
As long as the glue used in this procedure proves efficient in terms of connecting the donor's and the recipient's spinal chords, the surgery can be considered a success.
This is because severed nerves and blood vessels are easier to bind with one another.
All things considered, a team made up of 100 surgeons would have to work for 36 hours on end in order to carry out a head transplant.
Costs for the procedure would amount to ₤8.5 million (€9.92 million / $12.93 million).