World’s first head transplant system revealed – but can it be done?

Stop reading if you’re squeamish, but the world’s first ‘head transplant system’ has been unveiled – with hopes to start operating within eight years.

Neuroscience and biomedical engineering start-up BrainBridge revealed its sci-fi concept in an eight-minute long video – complete with horrifying sound effects.

In the CGI demo, the entirely robotic system simultaneously removes the heads of the donor and recipient bodies before swapping one onto the other via a grisly conveyor belt.

There isn’t a human in sight (apart from the patients) as robotic arms and a vast array of lasers get to work, using artificial intelligence (AI) to lead the outrageously complex – and as yet purely theoretical – operation.

BrainBridge says the system would offer new hope to patients suffering from untreatable conditions such as terminal cancer, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and paralysis.

However, one of several major obstacles to overcome is medicine’s inability – so far – to adequately repair nerve and spinal cord damage. Without this, any head transplant recipient would themselves be paralysed from the neck down.

Currently, the company is in the process of recruiting specialists to help overcome these barriers, and hopes unveiling the concept will ‘attract top talent from around the world interested in pushing the boundaries of biomedical science and changing the world for the better’.

‘In the short term, we expect the project to result in spinal cord reconstruction breakthrough and whole body transplant,’ BrainBridge said. ‘But in the long term, the project will expand into areas that will transform healthcare as we know it.’

The concept is the brainchild of Dubai-based project lead Hashem Al-Ghaili, a biotechnologist and science communicator.

‘Every step of the BrainBridge concept has been carefully thought out based on extensive scientific research that has been conducted and published by experts in various fields of science,’ he said.

‘The goal of our technology is to push the boundaries of what is possible in medical science and provide innovative solutions for those battling life-threatening conditions.

‘Our technology promises to open doors to lifesaving treatments that were unimaginable just a few years ago.’

For the transplant, the donor will be a brain-dead patient with a functional body and vital organs in a good condition.

However, the process doesn’t stop there, with plans to also carry out a face transplant from the donor. Face transplants are already happening, with great success, but are hugely complex operations requiring months of planning and multiple surgical teams.

Under BrainBridge’s plans, the operation will again be carried out using the same AI-powered robot surgeon as the head transplant.

A statement from the company added: ‘The process employs advanced high-speed robotic systems to prevent brain cell degradation and ensure seamless compatibility.

‘The entire procedure is guided by real-time molecular-level imaging and AI algorithms to facilitate precise reconnection of the spinal cord, nerves, and blood vessels.’

With the process still in the concept phase there is little solid information as to how much of the operation will work, but the promotional video did include details of how it will cool the bodies, and use polyethylene glycol (PEG) to help ‘glue’ the spine back together. PEG is already used to treat spinal cord injuries.

After the operation, significant physical rehabilitation and psychological support will be provided, following four weeks in an induced coma to allow the transplant sites to heal.

But how realistic is it that humans will ever be able to swap bodies? The idea is one that has captured the imagination for centuries, not least thanks to Mary Shelley’s tale of Frankenstein’s monster, a creature created from a mishmash of body parts, including from animals.

The first recorded head transplant was attempted on a dog in 1908, without success.

Dr Vladimir Demikhov continued the work in the 1950s when grafting a living head onto other dogs, effectively creating two-headed dogs. That didn’t technically qualify as a head transplant, and none of the subjects lived very long, unsurprisingly.

In the 1970s, scientist Dr Robert White performed a head transplant, or ‘cephalic exchange’, on a rhesus monkey. The animal reportedly survived for eight days and was able to see, hear, smell and bite one of Dr White’s colleagues, but was unable to move its new body, because the team could not reattach the spinal cord.

He carried out around 30 such transplants.

More recently, controversial neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero said he had successfully carried out a human head transplant. However, both the donor and recipient were deceased, calling into question exactly how success could have been measured.

He now hopes the first live head transplant is ‘just around the corner’, and had planned to carry out the operation on a terminally-ill man, who changed his mind after falling in love.

Bioethicist Dr Paul Root Wolpe said the proposed operation ‘walks a fine line between medical care and murder’, according to the Daily Star.

Right now, to most, head transplants remain very far away, and may never be feasible.

However, the advances made trying to get there – if done ethically – could translate into huge leaps forward in medical care, particularly in the field of spinal cord damage. 

Whether or not heads will one day be swapped like car parts in a factory remains to be seen. But as BrainBody argues that, without a pesky fragile body, brains could live for several hundred years.

Does that mean living for centuries will eventually be as simple as trading in one body for another?