Valery Spiridonov’s head is 31 years old. So is his body. Next year that may not be true. Dr. Sergio Canavero plans to surgically decapitate Spiridonov and attach his head to another person’s frame, flesh, and organs.
Why?
Because Spiridonov suffers from Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy.
Understandably, the proposed transplant has generated controversy. Here’s what Dr. Hunt Batjer, president of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons, told The Sun:
“I would not wish this on anyone. I would not allow anyone to do it to me as there are a lot of things worse than death.”
In 1970 American neurosurgeon Robert Joseph White (1926-2010) transplanted the head of one monkey onto the body of another. Though the primate could hear, smell, taste, eat, and see after the surgery, it was paralyzed from the neck down.
Ultimately the head and body rejected each other, and the monkey died within 10 days.
Professor Jerry Silver, a former colleague of White’s, dubbed Dr. Canavero’s planned surgery “barbaric.”
Organ transplants — including heads — have been a staple of horror flicks over the years. “Frankenstein” in its various iterations comes to mind — as does Steve Martin’s “Man With Two Brains.” I’ve no favorites, though I do enjoy the Mel Brooks-Gene Wilder version.
I remember hearing about the first heart transplant, back in 1967. Big news. Dr. Christiaan Barnard successfully removed the heart of a 25-year-old accident victim and placed it into 55-year-old Louis Washkansky’s chest. He lived for 18 days.
Whatever the proposed head-transplant outcome, Valery Spiridonov will most likely make the history books; Dr. Canavero, too. My hat’s off to both of them — pun intended.
