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| Sergio Canavero (picture from The Guardian). |
According to biomedical ethicist Assya Pascalev, "There are too many risks at this point to go ahead with it. We don't have enough data with animal models, sufficient published and peer-reviewed results, and particularly data about mobility and morbidity on the animals that have had the procedure."
On the other hand, James Giordano, a professor of medicine and neurosciences, says, "I recognize there is a high possibility for failure, but this is the only way we can push the envelope and probe the cutting edge to determine what works, what doesn't and why."
Although this was not the case here, I wondered what would happen if we had a bill to determine whether we should allow head transplants in the United States, or had to make a decision on whether federal money should be used for such operations (they are expensive - this one will cost almost 100 million dollars). I think this type of situation would lend itself to be something similar to what Mr. Silton was describing in class today. There would be a select few people who would strongly support this issue, and a large majority who might not exactly oppose it and don't care enough to advocate one way or the other. The hospitals performing these transplants and the patients who are desperately seeking any solution to their injuries/problems would benefit a lot, whereas the consequences will barely be noticed by the majority.
Anyway, should Canavero perform his surgery and take this risk in the name of science? Or should he restrict himself to procedures that he knows will work?
Articles
USA Today
The Guardian
Newsweek
12 comments:
Despite the controversies and the risks behind this operation, I believe that Dr. Canavero should still continue on with the surgery. Although Pascalev makes a good point with mentioning that the procedure is not as thoroughly prepared as it should be, as Giordiano mentioned, failure will only provide the answers to what went wrong and without it, the world may never know. It's all a a part of the scientific process. Additionally, even if Canavero fails, I don't think it will give him a bad reputation. It's an operation that has never been done before, so the failures that come along the way are just learning tools for the future. Overall, what Canavero is doing is truly remarkable and could be a stepping stone to something much greater. I'll just end it off here with some relatable thing that some wise speaker said: "Failures only lead to success."
There are many connections between nerves that have to be reattached in the event of a brain transplant and any damage could impact the patient in a very negative way. Even though scientific breakthroughs and surgeries are improved through the implementation of "risky" procedures, I believe that Pascalev does make important points that there are not enough experiments done to make this procedure safe enough to perform on humans. For example, there are considerably less risks operating on cadavers compared to humans. The next step should not be to jump to a human surgery where the complexity of surgery hugely increases, but to test on maybe animals or other scenarios. I disagree with Miguel in this case even though failure may lead to success, but it is important to note that failure in this case is a death of a person and that jumping into something blindly is more often than not a risky gamble unlikely to pay off.
I agree with David that a head transplant is risky and isn't a risk that should be taken on live humans. I haven't read the articles, but I'm curious what the value of a head transplant is... When I think of a head transplant, I think of getting a new brain, eyes, nose, etc. In my opinion, my brain and all those other features on my head make me who I am. If someone is getting a head transplant, are they getting a new head or a new body? This is ethically very concerning to me. So if I don't like my body, can I just get another one? I understand that we want to continue scientifically advancing, but this doesn't sit well with me.
Sincerely,
A confused human
I think that Canavero should proceed with this groundbreaking albeit risky surgery. This type of surgical experiment has been discussed for years. In fact, there has been a case of this working on a monkey whose head was transplanted onto another body. The monkey survived for about three days before dying. But what Canavero is trying to do is reattach a human head to another body, including the nerves. This is leaps ahead of what the monkey experiment was as they did not try to reconnect the nerves, resulting in the death. Trial and error is a huge part of scientific understanding, and this will help us acknowledge the boundaries of our medical thinking.
I am also confused with this procedure. I'm just not sure what it would accomplish other than being a scientific advancement. If he is willing to test this with himself, I feel like that is okay to do, but does that mean he is insecure with himself?
What is the advantage to gain from a head transplant? Is it to resuscitate individuals who have previously been decapitated? Also, will the brain as an organ be transferred along with the head transplant? This sounds like a very difficult surgery, since the entire body of the recipient will need to be immunosuppressed, since there is an abundance of foreign cells arriving from the transplant, including foreign blood cells, foreign skin cells, foreign nerve cells, etc. David mentioned earlier as well that it would be incredibly difficult to connect multiple neurons, especially those running down the spinal cord, since many of such neurons would have to be severed, and since they are microscopic in diameter I cannot envision how such neurons would be realigned to create a functional spinal cord and human. Good luck with the surgery.
This sounds like an intense and dangerous surgery. Even with basic organ transplants like the liver or kidney or other, there is always a risk of rejection. Like frank said, I am unsure of how this would benefit ? Brain cancer? Also, would it involve plastic surgery as well because having someone else's head on top of your own body would definitely look strange. I mean, according to 12 seasons of greys anatomy, skin transplant doesn't seem TOO TOO difficult, but in this case, it is definitely the least of the doctor's worries as of now. It seems very risky, but I am interested to see what the result is. The anatomy of humans is so different than other animals, therefore, even if it worked on animals before, the human head would be a totally different story. I think Canavero should just try it out anyways, and hopefully the patient is aware of the risks, especially of death. However, I would assume that the patient probably already has a low prognosis anyways.
I think that this surgery should be perused. While it is a dangerous surgery, I don't imagine that Canavero would attempt a surgery that he has no idea how to do. As with all new things, this seems like an unrealistic goal, but it very well could become something as common as a heart transplant in the future. As long as the surgeon isn't lying about the risks, people have the right to make informed consent about what happens to their body.
I love science as much as anybody, but this surgery is utterly baffling to me. Like many other commenters, I can see no reason for the necessity of this procedure. Perhaps I simply lack the creativity needed to understand the feasible application of a head transplant. This seems like unnecessary advancement for its own sake; the only reason I can imagine being given for the development of a head transplant technique is something along the lines of "why not?" or "it will be so cool, you'll be able to switch bodies and stuff!" If there is a good reason for the pursuit of this surgery, I certainly can't think of it. I'm really not qualified to comment on the sheer technical difficultly of this procedure, but it sounds incredibly risky, especially when considering, as mentioned in the Guardian article, his "successes" on animals are dubious at best. Maybe he should preform it on an animal without having to euthanize it 20 minutes later before he starts with people. In the grand scheme of things, I see this technique being left in history, a curiosity akin to phrenology.
I do not believe that this will work at all, and should definitely not be attempted. This doctor seems to be saying this a publicity stunt. The major problem with a head transplant would be connecting the spinal cord of the head to the spinal cord of the body. You would need to get the cells to regenerate in order to form connections. We cannot currently get these cells to regenerate at all (think quadriplegics). Even if this guy had figured out how to get the spinal cord cells to regenerate he would not be attempting a head transplant. He would use this technology to treat spinal cord injuries first. Also, even assuming he could do the surgery, brains are not mix and matchable. From the moment of your birth your brain is making connections based on your body. Bottom-line, this surgery is not actually going to happen, snd this guy really deserves to lose his license.
I think Canavero should perform this surgery and take a risk, but it should be after he gains more confidence that his surgery will be successful. At the moment, his lack of sufficient data makes this surgery a bit unethical as I believe it should be successful on various animals, including ones that are evolutionarily close to humans, before it is tried on a human. I do agree that risks should be taken in order for science to progress and advance over time, so I do think that this should be a procedure that is attempted at some point. However, if Canavero tries to perform this surgery now, with the little data and confidence he has, it will just be a shot in the dark. Therefore, I believe this surgery should be performed, but only when there is sufficient data that supports the success of this procedure on a human.
I agree with Keertana, I also believe this surgery should be performed, but only once there is more reason to believe it will work, Otherwise, it seems somewhat pointless. Even if he attempts this surgery in the name of furthering science, it seems kind of counterproductive if he thinks he might die, especially since he is the apparent mastermind behind the whole operation. While I am not a neuroscientist or a doctor of any sort, it is my opinion that this transplant is dangerous and could result in fatality, to say nothing of risks unaccounted for if it works. I am a firm believer in science and in furthering our knowledge in these fields, especially given that something like this could be used to help many people, but I am skeptical this is a realistic goal.
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