What would Stanislavsky say about this?
Canavero: I answered the critics and showed that the head transplant is real
Italian physician Sergio Canavero said that the successes achieved by his scientific group actually showed that a head-to-body transplant is possible and real, as he said in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti.
"I am pleased to announce that we were able to respond to all the criticism that fell on us after and during the conference in Annapolis, when our colleagues expressed doubt that such operations are possible. Two peer–reviewed scientific journals accepted our articles at once, in which we described how the GEMINI protocol works," Canavero said (for some reason the journals are not named - VM).
According to Canavero, similar experiments are being actively conducted in China, where, as Ren Xiaoting, the leader of the team of surgeons, told RIA Novosti, significant progress has been made in maintaining brain performance after separating the head and connecting it to a new body. Vietnam also expressed a desire to conduct such experiments.
"The main subject of criticism against us was that our colleagues believe that the spinal cord and the brain stem cannot be connected to each other, as a result of which the patient whose head will be transplanted will become completely paralyzed. We have conducted two series of experiments in China and South Korea, which show that this is not the case," the doctor continues.
According to Canavero, the technique he developed for "gluing" nerve cells using polyethylene glycol effectively coped with its task, allowing rats to regain significant limb mobility (by about 60% according to the Basso, Beatty and Bresnahan index) after several weeks of recovery. Similar results were obtained with both partial and complete rupture of the spinal cord.
"We have a lot of videos where you can personally see, without a shadow of a doubt, that our methodology and even just polyethylene glycol work. What does this mean? This is not the full version of the GEMINI protocol, we did not use a spinal cord stimulator and some other parts of it that have yet to be tested and which will undoubtedly improve the effectiveness of restoring connections," Canavero added.
Of the "many videos on which you can personally see ...", two are given in this article. The first 90% of the time is occupied by a talking Canavero head, a mouse writhing on the floor is shown, which before that, it seems, somehow damaged the spinal cord (no traces of a head transplant are visible) and a still photograph of a monkey's head sewn to the neck. On the second there is nothing but talking heads Kanavero and Xiaotin (who, by the way, does not know the name of his future Russian patient). Sometimes Spiridonov's head flashes in the frame. Does that convince you of anything? – VM.
According to him, his team and Xiaoting's team managed to show that the critics were wrong on another issue – they stated that the brain and head would not survive after complete separation from the body and joining a new body.
"Again, I am pleased to announce that my colleague Ren Xiaoting was able to perform a complete head transplant from one monkey to another for the first time using a special supply system. The animal lived for more than 20 hours, after which we put the primate to sleep, not wanting to cause him unnecessary suffering. Xiaoting proved that this is possible," Canavero continues.
As Xiaoting himself added, his scientific team is now planning to conduct the first experiments on transplanting a human head, so far from one corpse to another, after which the scale and scope of the experiments will be significantly expanded.
At the end of February 2015, Canavero announced the launch of the ambitious HEAVEN/AHBR project, in which he planned to transplant a volunteer's head onto a donor body. Russian programmer Valery Spiridonov, who was confined to a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy, responded to Canavero's call.
"Despite all these successes, Valery Spiridonov's future is still under threat. I have said many times that he will not be able to get a new body in China for biological and ethical reasons. The only way to do this is to perform the operation in Russia or in other European countries," the surgeon added.
According to Canavero, there are many good surgeons working in Moscow, with whom he and Xiaoting maintain contacts, and they are both ready to comprehensively help carry out this operation. The only problem remains the political will to carry out such a transplant and search for sources of funding.
"I urge Russian billionaires and their foreign "colleagues", such as Mark Zuckerberg, who is already investing huge resources in life extension research, to invest in the first head transplant in the history of the Earth. We have proved that this is possible, but in order to save Valery, we need help from them and from Russia," the surgeon concludes.
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19.01.2015