Poll of the Day > Remember that guy that wanted to perform the first human head transplant?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Well he did it. It was on a cadaver but it was reportedly successful. The next step is to attempt the procedure on two brain dead donor bodies and then finally a transplant between a donor body and an individual who needs the operation due to a medical condition.

I've seen a healthy amount of skepticism directed towards this guy, but it is undeniable that he has a lot of talented medical professional working alongside him and when you read explanation of the procedure it is pretty astounding. Even if it isn't possible for him to achieve this there is a lot t learn from his work in regards to the human nervous system alone. Many professionals think that connecting one spinal column to another simply can not be achieved as it has never been successfully done. I just hope it doesn't lead to any undue suffering for people who volunteer for the trial.

https://web.archive.org/web/20171117111211/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/11/17/worlds-first-human-head-transplant-successfully-carried/
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if its never been successfully done, then they just hvent done it right yet
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*body transplant
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We're only a few steps away from neckbeards finally getting new bodies where they look just like their waifus
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I is smart posted...

*body transplant

Yeah, wouldn't it technically be this?

But what happens when you put a 70 year old alzheimers patient head on a brain dead 20 year old.
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I don't quite understand how this proves anything. They said they reconnected the spine and nerves but what does that mean exactly? It was a dead body so how are they certain that this wouldn't paralyze live patients?

Anyways, the whole idea sounds pretty disturbing and creepy, though I can't deny that it could be potentially revolutionary in giving people new bodies.

Bump

https://www.sciencealert.com/claims-surgeon-completed-first-human-corpse-head-transplant

The guy does really seem like a mad scientist out of fiction. Disturbing that he hasn't provided evidence to his claim yet. If he is a charlatan I hope no one is actually harmed by him.

Apparantly they are using some type of medical glycol to fuse one spine to another which encourages cells to fuse together.
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Mead posted...

an individual who needs the operation due to a medical condition.

This is actually so many kinds of confusing...
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There's more than a few people out there who could do with a head transplant, but unfortunately there's just not enough smart heads to go around.
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Nichtcrawler X posted...

Mead posted...

an individual who needs the operation due to a medical condition.

This is actually so many kinds of confusing...

Some people are volunteering for the attempt. They're often suffering from degenerative or debilitating disease that is leaving their body useless and they are often terminal. Even if there is a one in a billion chance that this guy is successful, it's something.
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The concept is fucking nuts, like something of a bad horror film or tv show (granted, *several* shows did something like it). Hopefully they can get it work, but I just can't imagine how.
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Zeus posted...

The concept is fucking nuts, like something of a bad horror film or tv show (granted, *several* shows did something like it).

It's like that great scene in Attack of the Clones.

wouldn't you at best be a quadriplegic? until we can properly heal spinal injuries, this will at most be a way to keep someone's head alive a short while longer.
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Sahuagin posted...

wouldn't you at best be a quadriplegic? until we can properly heal spinal injuries, this will at most be a way to keep someone's head alive a short while longer.

He claims to have a good shot at fusing the spinal nerves. The whole thing honestly seems way too dubious to try on a person. But if someone is terminal and wants to volunteer I say let them. If they die they aren't suffering anymore, and a lot could be learned. We've barely scratched the surface of understanding how our brain and nervous systems actually function.

He claims to use a compound called polethylyne glycol which promotes fusion of the cells, and wil use controlled electrical pulses to speed up the healing of the nerves. He also says the patient will be kept in a medically induced coma for a month after the procedure so the spine can heal.
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I don't understand the purpose. Maybe if I fuck up my health, I get to trade in my body for a new one?

Mead posted...

Some people are volunteering for the attempt. They're often suffering from degenerative or debilitating disease that is leaving their body useless and they are often terminal. E

So a body transplant, not a head transplant? That does sound a bit more logical.
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Nichtcrawler X posted...

Mead posted...

Some people are volunteering for the attempt. They're often suffering from degenerative or debilitating disease that is leaving their body useless and they are often terminal. E

So a body transplant, not a head transplant? That does sound a bit more logical.

Yes, that makes more sense
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Sahuagin posted...

until we can properly heal spinal injuries,

We already can heal some spinal injuries. The problem with injuries is that they're highly variable in the level and type of damage. Presumably, this transplant will involve a clean cut and a constant supply of blood and nutrients to prevent necrosis, which makes a world of difference in terms of how viable the wound is to heal. It's still a long shot, but if he's got it working, more power to him.

What I have doubts about is whether or not the head's nerves will connect to the corresponding ones in the body. There's a very real chance that there will be mismatched nerves, such that the brain trying to move an arm will result in blinking, or things like that. Same with sensory nerves not connecting to the right places at all (which could result in things like a touch on the arm giving the sensation of being kicked in the balls). You can relearn these things to a certain extent, and given that the volunteers generally have debilitating musculoskeletal conditions that means they can't move much anyway, they won't have as much to relearn, but it might not be possible.
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adjl posted...

mismatched nerves, such that the brain trying to move an arm will result in blinking, or things like that. Same with sensory nerves not connecting to the right places at all (which could result in things like a touch on the arm giving the sensation of being kicked in the balls).

are you serious with this? if your spinal cord has been *severed at the neck* and *connected to a corpse* you aren't going to have your arms switched with blinking, wtf. it's not like a USB port or something, geepers. your entire autonomic nervous system will need to communicate with a foreign spinal cord just to have things like a heart beat, regulated blood pressure, breathing, functioning digestive system, etc. (there are a few functions you'll inherit from the spinal cord.) it's not like the blue wire connects to the eyes, and the red wire connects to the arms or something.
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Sahuagin posted...

adjl posted...

mismatched nerves, such that the brain trying to move an arm will result in blinking, or things like that. Same with sensory nerves not connecting to the right places at all (which could result in things like a touch on the arm giving the sensation of being kicked in the balls).

are you serious with this? if your spinal cord has been *severed at the neck* and *connected to a corpse* you aren't going to have your arms switched with blinking, wtf. it's not like a USB port or something, geepers. your entire autonomic nervous system will need to communicate with a foreign spinal cord just to have things like a heart beat, regulated blood pressure, breathing, functioning digestive system, etc. (there are a few functions you'll inherit from the spinal cord.) it's not like the blue wire connects to the eyes, and the red wire connects to the arms or something.

"The operation was a success, but we accidentally plugged the mouth nerve into the hand nerve and the hand nerve into the dick nerve. So now he speaks like a sock puppet, pops wood every time he tries to wave at someone, and shrieks instead of pees."
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Sahuagin posted...

it's not like the blue wire connects to the eyes, and the red wire connects to the arms or something.

It kind of is, actually. The spinal cord is not a continuous mass of nerve tissue. It's a bundle of a very large number of individual nerves, which branch off at the appropriate points to innervate the target tissues. The arrangement of those nerves relative to each other is not identical from person to person, so the nerves coming from the head might not end up attaching to the correct nerves in the spinal cord. which could result in some very odd and unpleasant effects (including, as you mentioned, the autonomic nervous system failing to connect to the involuntary processes that are necessary for life).

I will have Stone Cold Steve Austin transplanted into me plz.
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Ferarri619 posted...

I will have Stone Cold Steve Austin transplanted into me plz.

His legs are all messed up but ok
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_AdjI_ posted...

It kind of is, actually. The spinal cord is not a continuous mass of nerve tissue. It's a bundle of a very large number of individual nerves, which branch off at the appropriate points to innervate the target tissues. The arrangement of those nerves relative to each other is not identical from person to person, so the nerves coming from the head might not end up attaching to the correct nerves in the spinal cord. which could result in some very odd and unpleasant effects (including, as you mentioned, the autonomic nervous system failing to connect to the involuntary processes that are necessary for life).

it's more organic that you're making it sound. yes, it's a bundle, and some parts are communicating signals for one thing and some parts are communicating signals for others, but it's not so distinct that you could literally hook up the arms to the eyes. (the eyes aren't even in your spinal cord anyway).

it's not like, oops, we wired your arms backwards, it's like, oops, you're having massive seizures and convulsions, your heart is not beating, and your lungs are not working. gee I wonder why, maybe it's because you're a corpse from the neck down?
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I want adjl's massive fucking head transplanted onto me.

Sahuagin posted...

the eyes aren't even in your spinal cord anyway

... *headdesk* That didn't even occur to me. Whoops.

Sahuagin posted...

but it's not so distinct that you could literally hook up the arms to the eyes.

You could, but the likelihood of doing so is indeed pretty slim. It also wouldn't be completely swapping an arm with the butt so much as it would be swapping one arm muscle with one butt muscle.

Sahuagin posted...

it's not like, oops, we wired your arms backwards, it's like, oops, you're having massive seizures and convulsions, your heart is not beating, and your lungs are not working.

Yes, it's likely going to be a matter of pretty much everything being mismatched, rather than individual somatic systems being swapped. I don't see it working, even if they do get the spinal cord to fuse.
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Mead posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

I will have Stone Cold Steve Austin transplanted into me plz.

His legs are all messed up but ok

Neck too.

I think the brain would reject the new body. Also you'd probably feel like you had a second soul if you don't mind me using that term

What if something in the body retained parts of the past brain and it fought back to try to overwrite you.
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