The first human head transplant has taken place

eviltimeban

On a corpse. I would've thought that wouldn't be too risky?

However, this is interesting:

Italian Professor Sergio Canavero, director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, said that a team at Harbin Medical University carried out the procedure.

He said an operation on a live human will take place "imminently", the Telegraph reported this morning."The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done. A full head swap between brain dead organ donors is the next stage,” Professor Canavero said.

"And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent.”

So does this pave the way for people to swap bodies and heads around, for the craic?

The_Valeyard

You'd want to be head strong for that.

Boardnashea

I wouldn't be sticking my neck out!

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

lawred2

so they stuck a head on a corpse?

how could they possibly know if they did it right?

also - did they do it during a lightning storm?

fixXxer

What about the small issue of having no movement or feeling below the ears?

The_Valeyard

lawred2 wrote: »

so they stuck a head on a corpse?

how could they possibly know if they did it right?

also - did they do it during a lightning storm?

It didnt complain

Hammer89

eviltimeban wrote: »

On a corpse. I would've thought that wouldn't be too risky?

However, this is interesting:



So does this pave the way for people to swap bodies and heads around, for the craic?

Your man in the article took Roddy Doyle's head to prove it was possible.

Pac1Man

And the nominees for Best Pun in a Supporting Role are:

The_Valeyard wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Boardnashea wrote: »

I wouldn't be sticking my neck out!

Permabear wrote: »

I've always wanted a good head on my shoulders.

donegaLroad

I wonder what the church will say, if and when an actual head transplant takes place and a person then can give their account of what life after death has been like.

SEPT 23 1989

Professor Gummidge started all this in the 70's

endacl

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Professor Gummidge started all this in the 70's

Its good to remind people of this fact. Dr. Kryten gets all the kudos for perfecting the technique in the 90s.

Charmeleon

As someone once said, a head transplant is the only transplant where you hope to be the donor rather than the recipient.

I wonder whether it was this guy:



Oh, turns out it mightn't have been, but instead found someone new.

Utterly fascinating.

corner of hells

Pac1Man wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Boardnashea wrote: »

I wouldn't be sticking my neck out!

Permabear wrote: »

I've always wanted a good head on my shoulders.

[/quote]

We just need to stay calm , folks , and not lose the head.

Minderbinder

Should it not be called a ‘body transplant’?

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

somefeen

I've been following this character for a while. It was due to happen this December but last I heard it was being delayed.

Very interesting story but the medical community are very adamant that it won't work. Any similar experiments done on animals have a 100% mortality rate. This guy still wants to press ahead *ahem* despite that.
If it did work nobody knows what the psychological affect will be for the patient. There's still much speculation that the mind doesn't totally reside within the brain.

Absolutely mental altogether. The surgeons TED talks are worth a watch, if only to see how much of a head case he is.

eviltimeban

So, they plan to take a healthy head from a terminally ill body, and stick it on a recently deceased, headless (but healthy) body? How do they get the donor body back to life? They are hardly going to take the head off someone still alive and put on the new head... unless the person is brain dead?

corner of hells

eviltimeban wrote: »

So, they plan to take a healthy head from a terminally ill body, and stick it on a recently deceased, headless (but healthy) body? How do they get the donor body back to life? They are hardly going to take the head off someone still alive and put on the new head... unless the person is brain dead?

Jump leads and flat 7up.

PeterParker957

fixxxer wrote: »

What about the small issue of having no movement or feeling below the ears?

Never bothered Eamon Dunphy.

Hannibal_Smith

eviltimeban wrote: »

So, they plan to take a healthy head from a terminally ill body, and stick it on a recently deceased, headless (but healthy) body? How do they get the donor body back to life? They are hardly going to take the head off someone still alive and put on the new head... unless the person is brain dead?

I can't get my head round this at all


Sorry

Roger_007

Does it matter whether the head and the body are from the same sex? If not there will have to be a new category in the sexual orientation designations i.e. LGBTIQ.......H? (Hybrid).

PeterParker957

Roger_007 wrote: »

Does it matter whether the head and the body are from the same sex? If not there will have to be a new category in the sexual orientation designations i.e. LGBTIQ.......H? (Hybrid).

Jeez don't encourage them!!!!

Charmeleon

somefeen wrote: »

There's still much speculation that the mind doesn't totally reside within the brain.

Indeed. Just the other week I overheard a builder ask a plumber if he could call around on a Sunday morning to fix a leak and he replied ‘ask me b****x’.

dilallio

They tried this operation in Belarus 10 years ago but it was a disaster.

The then 27 year old man Ivan Leglovski, was born without a body due to soviet-era medical experiments. Ivan was kept alive all this time using a specially designed life-support apparatus.

However, his health started to deteriorate and scientists were left with no option but to attempt the risky procedure of transplanting Ivan's head onto the body of a recently deceased Russian dancer who had just passed away from a brain tumour.

After a 42 hour operation, Ivan was kept in a medically-induced coma for 3 weeks.

Finally the day arrived when the medical team decided to wake the patient.

Ivan slowly awakened and opened his eyes.
"Where am I?" he asked.

After answering Ivan's questions, the doctors performed a series of stimuli tests, prodding his hands, legs, feet. He could feel everything. It was amazing!
They slowly helped him off the gurney and got him standing and walking slowly. The operation was a success.

But then disaster struck!

A nearby elderly patient with hearing loss, turned on his transistor radio at maximum volume, and a very loud Russian Kazatskis (Russian Cossack Dance) music blared out of the speaker. Suddenly, Ivan started dancing uncontrollably, bouncing all over the room doing squat kicks and advanced Russian dance moves. The medical team were too shocked to move, and before they could stop him, Ivan danced uncontrollably out through the open door, over the railings guarding the stairwell, and fell to his death 8 floors below.

And the moral of the story ...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
He should have quit while he was a head :P

maudgonner

eviltimeban wrote: »

So, they plan to take a healthy head from a terminally ill body, and stick it on a recently deceased, headless (but healthy) body? How do they get the donor body back to life? They are hardly going to take the head off someone still alive and put on the new head... unless the person is brain dead?

The body would be from a brain-dead person who is on life support. That's currently the case with most organ donation - life support is maintained to keep the organs viable until they are removed

fxotoole

GReat. Now I can rest safe in the knowledge that if I’m decapitated, I can be revived

gramar

I knew there would come a day when you could say 'he's the head off yer man' and it would be true.

everlast75

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgqKv9rkAE0

Roger_007

fxotoole wrote: »

GReat. Now I can rest safe in the knowledge that if I’m decapitated, I can be revived

You would need to do a test run..........just to prove that it works!:P

PeterParker957

I have to say lads I am deeply disappointed that there's been no comment of "what kind of life is there with no head ?"

Or similar. Not good enough!!!!

frag420

Apparently the first recipient of this surgery is going to be the great great grandson of Albert Einstein, his name is Frank...

Don't Chute!

This sounds like something Karl Pilkington would come up with.

Rory28

If this works I can see a future where billionaires kidnap healthy 20 something year olds to prolong their life. At the very least we will get a good sci-fi out of this.

valoren

That's the only way to get ahead in life.

SEPT 23 1989

Rory28 wrote: »

If this works I can see a future where billionaires kidnap healthy 20 something year olds to prolong their life. At the very least we will get a good sci-fi out of this.

kidnap them?

they will grow them

Father Hernandez

Surprised this hasn't got more media coverage tbh. Was only reading on LinkedIn yesterday and then it just 'happened' this morning.

If successful and I assume we won't know for a while if the guy is in a coma and then rehab, etc then it would be such a breakthrough for medicine no?

Rory28

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

kidnap them?

they will grow them

ah nuts. The Island was a terrible movie.

Akrasia

Would it not be easier to do a brain transplant than an entire head transplant?

It Absolutely definitely wouldn't work, but it would be easier

conor222

You can do anything you sent your mind to

BrokenArrows

eviltimeban wrote: »

On a corpse. I would've thought that wouldn't be too risky?

However, this is interesting:



So does this pave the way for people to swap bodies and heads around, for the craic?

How do they prove that they did the transplant correctly if they did it on already dead people?

eviltimeban

BrokenArrows wrote: »

How do they prove that they did the transplant correctly if they did it on already dead people?

Maybe they sat the body up and the head didn't fall off.

Charmeleon

BrokenArrows wrote: »

How do they prove that they did the transplant correctly if they did it on already dead people?

They had volunteers read Louise O’Neill articles out loud on 24hr rotation until the corpse got up and walked out.

Donald Trump

My only dilemma now is what body to choose?

Do I choose a hot young wan with lovely boobs so that I can spend all day playing with them?

I mean if I chose a fellas body, whenever I have to go for a piss it would involve holding another fellas mickey. I mean if I had the mans body I'd be doing to riding but it would be with some dead fella's mickey.

I think that it was Socrates who first posed this question back in the day

eviltimeban

Do you get to pick a younger body, or does it have to be the same age? Can, say, a 70 year old brain deal with the way an 18-year old body works? An old as f**k head on a fit young body is gonna be a bit weird.

igCorcaigh

Father Hernandez wrote: »

Surprised this hasn't got more media coverage tbh. Was only reading on LinkedIn yesterday and then it just 'happened' this morning.

If successful and I assume we won't know for a while if the guy is in a coma and then rehab, etc then it would be such a breakthrough for medicine no?

It's been done on a corpse.

Cee-Jay-Cee

lawred2 wrote: »

so they stuck a head on a corpse?

how could they possibly know if they did it right?

also - did they do it during a lightning storm?

They bring him/her back to life and ask them. Simples.

Cee-Jay-Cee

eviltimeban wrote: »

So, they plan to take a healthy head from a terminally ill body, and stick it on a recently deceased, headless (but healthy) body? How do they get the donor body back to life? They are hardly going to take the head off someone still alive and put on the new head... unless the person is brain dead?

Cup of strong tae would probably do the trick.

BrokenArrows

eviltimeban wrote: »

Do you get to pick a younger body, or does it have to be the same age? Can, say, a 70 year old brain deal with the way an 18-year old body works? An old as f**k head on a fit young body is gonna be a bit weird.

They could probably put a 70 year old head on a 18 year old body but the brain would still be old and die before the body does.

eviltimeban

BrokenArrows wrote: »

They could probably put a 70 year old head on a 18 year old body but the brain would still be old and die before the body does.

Not necessarily - do brains have lifespans independent to the body? Or could they keep going if they had a chance to access younger blood / healthier lungs / heart / nervous system etc?

Or are the likes of eyesight / hearing failing down to the age of the head?