Doctor Says His Method Paves Way For Idaho Head Transplantation

Whether it's a hand, leg, or lung, transplantation surgery is a highly risky endeavor. An Italian neurosurgeon believes his method could pave the way for Idaho doctors to successfully oversee head transplantation surgery in the near future.

The idea of transplanting a person's diseased head with that of a healthy one sounds like something from an H.G. Wells novel. The Island of Doctor Moreau is the first thing that came to mind when I read about the man who believes he has the keys to this type of procedure, and that it could be taught to surgeons throughout the world.

The biggest obstacle in successfully pulling off such a procedure is figuring out how to prevent the rest of the body and organs from rejecting the donor head.

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Neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero, 60, has devoted the past decade of his life studying how to successfully perform a number of surgeries that many in the medical community believe are impossible. One of those procedures involves head transplantation. This radical surgery could be beneficial in cases such as brain cancer and likely would be largely performed by robotic arms rather than human hands.

The topic has come to light recently in such publications as Popular Mechanics. Doctors have been attempting to master this surgery on animals going back to the early 1900s, and still people believe it's wasted time and resources.

The biggest obstacle in successfully pulling off such a procedure is figuring out how to prevent the rest of the body and organs from rejecting the donor head. Reattaching all the necessary blood vessels and thoracic elements would also be incredibly difficult and tricky. Still, the idea itself is mind-blowing and worth funding.