What can you do if you become a quadriplegic after a catastrophic injury, or if you’re getting old, weak and fat? One solution is head transplantation – once the theme of very bad science fiction films and now the theme of press conferences.
Controversial Italian neurosurgeon Dr Sergio Canavero announced to media in Vienna recently that a team from Harbin Medical University led by his colleague Dr Ren Xiaoping has carried out the world’s first head transplant experiment. (In his line of business, they call it cephalosomatic anastomosis.)
Abstract:
Claims of the successful transplant of a human head may have been met by derision but they also reveal bioethical blindspots among ambitious surgeons.