DailyDirt: Keep Your Head On...

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Jun 10th 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Some surgeries that were really risky just a couple decades ago are nearly routine now -- though the risk of death and/or complications is always going to exist. However, the idea of a head transplant is more than a little "out there" when it comes to extreme medical procedures. There are some people working on transplanting heads (or switching bodies, depending on your point of view), but early adopters aren't expected to get any life extension benefits just yet.

Head transplants have been tried in a bunch of different animals over the last few decades, but one surgeon has performed about 1,000 head transplants on mice since 2013. These mice have lived as long as one day after the procedure, so this doctor is going to try primates next. IANAD, but maybe he should stick to mice.... [url]
Monkey head transplant surgery has been done before, but the animals didn't live for too long, either. Brain grafts and nerve tissue regeneration might be a more promising research approach, but figuring out how to keep brains alive (without the original body) seems like an idea that won't go away. [url]
James Boysen had a partial skull and scalp transplant -- an extreme way to get a new head of hair. Actually, doctors did this surgery because he needed a pancreas and kidney transplant and also had cancer damage to his skull. [url]

After you've finished checking out those links, take a look at our Techdirt Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: brains, frankenstein, head transplant, james boysen, life extension, medicine, organ transplants

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S.T.Stone, 10 Jun 2015 @ 5:10pm

Follow Pirate Mike on SuprBay!
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He needz your clickz. -- Why don't you pirates EVER help? You freeload off even Masnick!
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Mason Wheeler (profile), 11 Jun 2015 @ 6:05am

Head transplants are still a bit out there, but 3D-printed skull replacements are real technology today.
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- Anonymous Coward, 11 Jun 2015 @ 12:20pm
  
  Re:
  "out there" is an understatement, until medical science provides reliable and safe treatment and repair of spinal cord injury and nerve tissue, "head transplants" are a macabre fantasy.
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Rekrul, 11 Jun 2015 @ 8:53am

I can see a head transplant being used to save someone who has severe damage to their body, but also if they can successfully transplant a head, it should mean that they would also be able to reconnect severed spinal cords in a person's original body.
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Ken Riel, 12 Jun 2015 @ 11:36am

POV?
..."transplanting heads (or switching bodies, depending on your point of view)"

I'd just like to point out that only one element of this equation is capable of achieving a 'point of view'...
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Abhinav singh (profile), 15 Jan 2020 @ 5:01pm

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Abhinav singh (profile), 15 Jan 2020 @ 5:04pm

Hair Transplant Surgery in Delhi
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Abhinav singh (profile), 15 Jan 2020 @ 5:10pm

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