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Full Body Transplants

  • Tristan Senoaji
  • Oct 7, 2024
  • 4 min read

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Ever wondered how it would feel in someone else’s body? Well, one day — theoretically, at least — you can. The infamous full body transplant: a surgical operation so absurd that scientists specializing in its discovery have been called ‘butchers’ and earned comparisons to Dr. Frankenstein.


The simple yet still convoluted way to explain this procedure is the experimental process of connecting and grafting one organism’s head and brain to the deceased body of a different one, involving the tedious connections of blood vessels, nerves, muscles, skin, and basically every structure inside your head and neck. It’s a last ditch effort for patients of terminal illnesses to get a second chance in a brand new body. (Furr et al., 2017)


So, what’s the deal? Why haven’t we gotten a breakthrough in this procedure, especially with such cutting edge medical technology at our disposal today?


There are three problems that make this surgery nearly impossible: the nervous, circulatory, and immune systems (Lamba et al., 2016). The body and brain are interdependent — one can’t live without the other. The brain stem controls the body’s essential functions (breathing, circulation of blood, etc.) while the body gives the brain blood and oxygen to live. Tampering with this balance, by cutting off one’s head, will immediately lead to the shutdown of both parts. And as with most organ transplantations, the body isn’t too fond of strangers trespassing into their home and its immune system will instinctively reject them.


Several surgeons have devised innovative solutions for said problems, but by doing so, they’ve essentially made a bigger problem which is more trouble finding any donors or recipients. To prevent organ rejection, doctors need to cater the donor to the recipient and have both undergo a rigorous evaluation to ensure the same tissue and blood type plus any medical conditions that may interfere with the process. It needs to be completely perfect thus harder to achieve. The deceased donor not only has to be a perfect match to the donor, but also completely healthy and has consented to the operation.


The donor will then have their immune system literally replaced via a bone marrow transplant while the recipient is given extremely high and unsafe doses of immunosuppressants. (Gkasdaris, 2019).


To keep the body and head from shutting down during the surgery, they are each connected to machines that act as artificial replacements for key organs. The major vessels are connected to an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine using plastic tubes which mimics the function of the heart and lungs while also connected to a mechanical ventilator to stabilize the oxygen levels of the body. (Gkasdaris, 2019).


Maintaining low temperatures of the body and brain will also help preserve the tissue during the long procedure. This can be done by injecting chemicals into the membrane to induce a controlled cold temperature called ‘profound hypothermia’ or using a cooling helmet.


Finally, after an extensive process of reconnecting blood vessels, bones, and tubes, scientists will use chemicals called fusogens as a glue which encourages nerve cell growth and fusion with the help of an installed spinal cord stimulator to promote the recovery of nerve cells. (Canavero, 2013).


Why hasn’t anyone done it then? Well, the simple answer is that everything I just said is a hypothetical plan rooted in data from limited animal and cadaver testing — and that itself cannot be completely trusted. No one has been brave enough to try these methods because of a few things. First: the resources. Adding up all the machines, technology, and countless processes that need to be done, the estimated cost of this surgery is an extraordinary $13 million, easily one of the most expensive surgeries ever devised. Second: the time and labor. According to Whiteman (2015), it would take 100 surgeons a whopping 36 hours working simultaneously for it to succeed. Not to mention, the long evaluation process before the surgery and the much longer physical recovery and therapy afterwards. Last: the risks. We truly do not know if these experimental solutions would even work and many are too afraid to try. There’s a possibility of blindness, loss of sense, loss of identity, permanent paralysis, and death (Gkasdaris, 2019; Farjud, 2018)


While full body transplant could give some people a second chance at life, this procedure is much too risky to attempt and is a massive waste of money, time, and labour. For the general public, a full body transplant is not within their ability to achieve nor is it widely available. Both doctors and patients may be hesitant to try these dangerous and unproven methods. Not to mention the strict criteria and tests that make finding a perfect donor so tedious plus the inordinate cost and the fact that less than 0.02% of people even make $10 million, it’s safe to say that door is closed for most people. The efforts for such an experimental surgery could instead be used in curing said illnesses.


References:

Canavero, S. (2013). HEAVEN: The head anastomosis venture Project outline for the first human head

transplantation with spinal linkage (GEMINI). Surg Neurol Int, 10.4103/2152-7806.113444


Farhud, D.D. (2018). Ethical, Social, and Psychological Challenges of Head Transplantation in Humans. Iran J

Public Health, 47(9), 1232-1234. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6174037/Furr, A. Hardy, M.A. Barret, J.P. Barker, J.H. (2017) Surgical, ethical, and psychosocial considerations in human head transplantation. J Surg, 41, 190-195. 10.1016/j.ijsu.2017.01.077


Gkasdaris, G. (2019). First Human Head Transplantation: Surgically Challenging, Ethically Controversial and

Historically Tempting – an Experimental Endeavor or a Scientific Landmark? Maedica (Bucur), 14(1), 5-11. 10.26574/maedica.2019.14.1.5


Lamba, N. Holsgrove, D. & Broekman, M.L. (2016) The history of head transplantation: a review. Acta Neurochir,


Thompson, B. (2024) Video: Head transplants performed by robots planned within the decade. New Atlas


Whiteman, H. (2015). 30-year-old Russian man volunteers for world’s first human head transplant. Medical

 
 
 

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