A man with a fatal medical condition has spoken about how he is set to become the first person to undergo a human head transplant and hopes it could be as soon as next year.
Valery Spiridonov, a computer scientist, says he is ready to put his trust in controversial surgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero who claims he can cut off his head and attach it to a healthy body.
The 30-year-old Russian man suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Werdnig-Hoffman disease, says he wants the chance of a new body before he dies.
“My decision is final and I do not plan to change my mind,” he said.
Dr. Canavero says the man volunteered. The two men have talked via Skype but they have yet to meet in person, and the doctor has not reviewed Spiridonov’s medical records.
“Am I afraid? Yes, of course I am. But it is not just very scary, but also very interesting,” stated Mr. Spiridonov from his home in Vladimir in Moscow. “But you have to understand that I don’t really have many choices. If I don’t try this chance my fate will be very sad. With every year my state is getting worse.”
With his condition worsening each day, Mr. Spiridonov is desperate for the technique to work.
“If you want something to be done, you need to participate in it,” he continued.
He said his family fully support his decision to be the first human to undergo such surgery.
“My family fully supports me. They also understand all the risks and even if they think that it’s too dangerous, they still support me in my decision,” he stated.
“What’s more, there’s already a lot of effort invested in this idea and that’s why it’s too late to back out,” he added.
Mr. Spiridonov contacted the controversial doctor, who is based at the University of Turin in Italy, after reading about his ambitious medical claims.
“I contacted Professor Canavero two years ago after reading about his works. I offered myself to him to make this operation possible. We have never met and we just communicate via emails,” he said, “For the last two years we've been talking this idea through and planning the operation.”
Despite his severe disabilities Mr. Spiridonov has lead a full life, graduating from university with a degree in computer science.
“I don't do this because I don't have a life but I think that science is developed by those who are ready to take risks and devote themselves to it,” he said.
The Italian doctor told CNN he has received many email and letters from people seeking the procedure, but he insists the first patients will be people suffering from a muscle wasting disease.
Dr. Canavero has named the procedure HEAVEN, which is an acronym for head anastomosis venture. Anastomosis involves the surgical connecting of an entire head on a new body, a human body.
He also insists that all the necessary techniques already exist to transplant a head onto a donor body.
The cost of the 36-hour operation, which could only be performed in one of the world’s most advanced operating theaters, has been estimated at $11million.
The new body would come from a transplant donor who is brain dead but otherwise healthy.
Both donor and patient would have their head severed from their spinal cord at the same time, using an ultra-sharp blade to give a clean cut.
The patient’s head would then be placed onto the donor’s body and attached using what Dr. Canavero calls his ‘magic ingredient’ - a glue-like substance called polyethylene glycol - to fuse the two ends of the spinal cord together.
The muscles and blood supply would be stitched up, before the patient is put into a coma for four weeks to stop them from moving while the head and body heal together.
When they wake the patient should be able to move, feel their face and even speak with the same voice. Powerful immunosuppressant drugs should stop the new body from being rejected.
On the other hand, critics say Dr. Canavero’s plans are ‘pure fantasy’. The Italian has been compared to the fictional gothic-horror character Dr. Frankenstein.
While, Arthur Caplan, the director of medical ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Centre, has described Dr. Canavero as ‘nuts’.
Whereas, Dr. Hunt Batjer, president elect of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons, told CNN: “I would not wish this on anyone. I would not allow anyone to do it to me as there are a lot of things worse than death.”
However, the Italian physician is confident he can successfully transplant a head on to another body. And if successful, his pioneering procedure could give new hope to thousands of paralysed and disabled people.
Mr. Spiridonov has never discussed the possibility of failure with Dr. Canavero.
“It was about me just offering myself as ready to undergo it. Of course, the professor considers the chances to succeed are quite high otherwise he wouldn’t try it,” he said.
Donors could include victims of road traffic accidents or even prisoners sentenced to death, he says.
According to Mr. Spiridonov, he understands that the Italian surgeon can only go ahead when he is satisfied that medical science is sufficiently advanced, but he believes it will possibly be next year, 2016.
“We haven't agreed on a particular date of the surgery with Dr. Canavero,” he confessed. “It’s an on-going process and a lot depends on the success of the studies that are underway now.”
The Russian even jokes about what might happen if the surgery goes wrong.
“Maybe I would try to move my leg but instead my body will produce a liter of adrenaline,” he said. “But I am willing to take the risks and try.”
Meanwhile, the first monkey head transplant was performed 45 years ago and a basic operation on a mouse was carried out in China recently.
In 1970, Dr. Robert White transplanted the head of one monkey onto the body of another at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
The monkey died after eight days because the body rejected the head. The monkey was unable to breathe on its own. The animal could not move because the spinal cords were not connected.
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[Source: MailOnline]
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