A company unveils a machine that could allow head transplants in a few years.
Medical progress is unstoppable. With the help of technology, projects are multiplying to find solutions to diseases. This is the case of the neuroscience and biomedical engineering company BrainBridge, which has assured that it is working on a transplantation system to graft a head from one body to another. The company claims that this could help fight incurable diseases such as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s.
The process is pretty crazy. The two bodies, one of which would be brain dead, would receive an “artificial plasma solution”, cooled to 5°C, before detaching the heads. Polyethylene glycol, a chemical adhesive, would then be used to reconnect the severed neurons. Two surgical robots would work to graft the head as quickly as possible, in order to preserve the brain. They would be guided and assisted by artificial intelligence, in particular to avoid errors and adapt to circumstances.
After the operation, the patient would be placed in a coma to avoid any movement for a month and upon waking up, he would have to undergo physiotherapy in order to adapt to his new body. The goal is for the person to be viable in his new body, retaining his consciousness, memories and cognitive abilities.
Hashem Al-Ghaili, director of the project, who made headlines with Ectolife, automated capsules to replace pregnancy, revealed the process in a video shared on YouTube.
He said it was the “world’s first concept of a head transplant system that integrates advanced robotics and artificial intelligence to perform complete head and face transplant procedures.” While work is still in its early stages, he hopes to attempt the first such surgery within eight years.
There are still many practical and ethical questions to be resolved before we get to that point, however. The physical question of how the body’s organs reject the brain will need to be addressed, as well as the psychological question of living in a body that is not one’s own. Neuroscience experts are not convinced that this project is feasible, as some of the technologies discussed have not even seen the light of day yet.