China will soon transplant patients with new techniques

After the first transplant, the patient must be in a coma for 1 month so that the nerves can function normally again.

Recently, two Chinese surgeons said they are developing a new technique to perform. Together with scientist Sergio Canavero, the two Chinese scientists plan to attach an electrode joint to the patient's neck and head.

Picture 1 of China will soon transplant patients with new techniques
Professor Ren and Dr. Cavanero.

They say that this technique helps patients with paralysis and spinal trauma to walk normally. Previously, these two scientists once shocked when they announced that they had done a test on 2 bodies.

Picture 2 of China will soon transplant patients with new techniques
The mouse-head transplant once shocked the world.

The 18-hour surgery showed that Chinese doctors could transplant the spine, nerves and blood vessels into a severed head from the neck. Many people in scientific communities say that this is a 'inhuman' and 'non-scientific' surgery.

A neuroscience professor at Oxford University said that head graft surgery on living people is "no different from killing".

In the latest interview, Professor Ren, 56, the author of the head-to-head idea, said their project is still controversial. However, he said that this was something to do 'to save the living brain but the body was dead'.

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Dr. Ren is confident that he will successfully match his head.

Professor Ren replied on CNBC: 'We have experimented and found that head and spinal cord transplantation is completely feasible'. Ren's current plan is to work on paralyzed patients and spinal injuries.

Although very ambitious with the plans for the beginning, Professor Ren and Mr. Canavero did not provide much scientific basis for their claims. They experimented with grafting on dogs, mice, and cats. These experiments were successful and they showed signs of movement after surgery.

So, the doctors will have to store the head separately in a frozen environment and get blood, oxygen continuously to feed this head. After that, doctors used a special solution to match the head with the spinal cord. The first transplant patient will be lethargic for 1 month before the whole nervous system works normally.

Still, Dr. Mark Hardy, an implant specialist at Columbia University (USA), says the idea is not feasible. He said adhesives are particularly harmful to the human body and can affect the spine. Dr. Hardy said that the first transplant could only be done in about 10 to 12 years.