# Could a severed human head be kept alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023 "2011-10-27T23:55:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Super\_Kapowzler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Super\_Kapowzler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Kapowzler)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/1 "2011-10-27T23:55:36Z")
Dear Fans: Say I had a setup that was like a external Jarvick-7 (first generation heart-pump)linked to a dyalisis blood filter, piped into an areated reservour of blood, (like an aquarium fulla blood with an areator), and all conditions were sterile. And then we cut some jackass’ head off, and IMMEDIATELY plugged and sealed the carotid and jugular to the fish tank system. So, you have a sealed, sterile system of oxygenated blood to a head, that is not leaking, within like 2 seconds and shit, of the head gettin’ chopped off. I read somewhere that if you shout the name of someone whom has just had their head cut off, their eyes will look at you. Add an IV of glucose, and I could keep someone’s head alive on the mantle, right? Happy Halloween, bitches. KZ ---
**Author:** ![Reverend\_Meade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Reverend\_Meade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverend_Meade)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/2 "2011-10-28T00:35:17Z")
> [@Super\_Kapowzler](#): > > areated reservour of blood, (like an aquarium fulla blood with an areator) I don’t think this would work. Bronchioles ( the part of your lung that oxigenates your blood) are a lot more complicated than that. As far as I know there is no current replacement for them. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/3 "2011-10-28T00:38:25Z")
Ask the [Soviets](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSrIkUXwsNk&feature=player_embedded). ---
**Author:** ![Reverend\_Meade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Reverend\_Meade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverend_Meade)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/4 "2011-10-28T01:10:07Z")
How long did that dog live? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/5 "2011-10-28T01:13:15Z")
You’d need to support cellular respiration as well, so you’d need glucose in the blood as well as oxygen. You’d also need a replacement for the kidneys as well (I’m… pretty sure) so that’s a dialysis machine on top of the heart or heart/lung machine you already have. I don’t know about replacing _all_ liver function, but if you don’t remove and replace red blood cells your oxygen transport breaks down and if you don’t remove and replace white blood cells your head-inna-jar is becomes severely immunocompromised, so you need either fake bone marrow or periodic transfusions of the blood of the living. So, you know, sweet dreams and all. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/6 "2011-10-28T01:17:14Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Ask the [Soviets](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSrIkUXwsNk&feature=player_embedded). Or… Er… [The Soviets](http://www.madsciencemuseum.com/msm/pl/monkey_head_transplant). Or [Dr. Robert J. White](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb3Zi0DenaE) of Case Western Reserve University. These last two involved switching heads - grafting heads onto different bodies - but the “new” bodies (new to the head) served only to pump blood and stuff, the neurological microsurgery is not yet possible to connect the nerves to the brain and spinal cord that would allow control of the body (otherwise we could have cured Christopher Reeve’s paralysis). So really, the question of “can we keep a severed head alive” has already been answered - it seems to be YES. The next advancement, to use an artificial life support apparatus instead of a freshly decapitated body, would seem to be surmountable… ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/7 "2011-10-28T01:21:29Z")
> [@Reverend\_Meade](#): > > Bronchioles ( the part of your lung that oxigenates your blood) are a lot more complicated than that. As far as I know there is no current replacement for them. The lungs are famous for putting oxygen into the blood. People tend to forget how important it is that they also remove the carbon dioxide. BUT all this, and what other posters have said, is for LONG TERM survival. If the only thing we cared about was maintaining consciousness for twenty seconds or so – just enough time to prove consciousness via a morse-code message via moving the eyes – that would put the OP in a whole new light. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/8 "2011-10-28T01:27:11Z")
I should read other people’s citations more often. > [@Robardin's first cite](#): > > When the monkey woke and found that its body had been switched for a new one, it angrily tracked White with its eyes and snapped at him with its teeth. That pretty much answers the consciousness question, I think. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/9 "2011-10-28T01:27:26Z")
And somebody’s drawn up a patent office filing with plans for doing just that - [If We Can Keep A Severed Head Alive…](http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Severed-Head-Alive-Discorporation-Patent/dp/0942287029) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/10 "2011-10-28T04:36:17Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > [If We Can Keep A Severed Head Alive…](http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Severed-Head-Alive-Discorporation-Patent/dp/0942287029) It’s going to want a cookie. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/11 "2011-10-28T04:48:26Z")
The [Straight Dope](http://www.teemings.net/series_2/issue_03/brain_1.html)on keeping severed heads alive from **Cal Meacham**. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/12 "2011-10-28T06:35:08Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s going to want a cookie. And if you give it a cookie, it’s going to want a drink of milk. So just set a mousetrap and be done with it. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/13 "2011-10-28T07:16:32Z")
The human body does a heck of a lot more than just supply glucose, oxygenate blood and filter out urea. There is no way that an artificial life support system is going to supply suitable neurotransmitter precursors and regulatory hormones to keep the brain alive and functioning for anything more than a limited period of time - I’m guessing hours at most. Si ---
**Author:** ![Tammi\_Terrell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Tammi\_Terrell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tammi_Terrell)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/14 "2011-10-28T12:50:53Z")
> [@Reverend\_Meade](#): > > How long did that dog live? According to Brukhonenko’s and Tchetchuline’s two papers [1, 2], a typical experiment, from beginning to end, took about 7 to 9 hours, most of which was spent separating the head from the body, obtaining the lungs and vasculature of a second dog, and connecting vessels to the autojector. The final 2 to 3 hours were devoted to taking physiological and behavioral measurements from the isolated head itself. (I assume the dog was terminated sometime shortly thereafter.) [1] Brukhonenko and Tchetchuline. Expériences avec la tête isolée du chien. I. Technique et conditions des experiénces. Journal de Physiol. et de Pathol. Génér. 29(1): 31-45 (March, 1929). [2] Brukhonenko and Tchetchuline. Expériences avec la tête isolée du chien. II. Résultats des experiénces. Journal de Physiol. et de Pathol. Génér. 29(1): 64-79 (March, 1929). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/15 "2011-10-28T15:33:59Z")
[This article](http://individual.utoronto.ca/evant/EnactionChapter.pdf) [PDF], though it deals with the possibility of keeping removed brains alive and conscious, rather than whole heads, is very much to the point. The short version of the article’s answer is, no, it can’t be done. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/16 "2011-10-28T17:12:24Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > There is no way that an artificial life support system is going to supply suitable neurotransmitter precursors and regulatory hormones to keep the brain alive and functioning for anything more than a limited period of time - I’m guessing hours at most. Not if you’re limited to current technology, but what one machine can do another can do as well. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/17 "2011-10-28T18:35:09Z")
> [@Sleel](#): > > And if you give it a cookie, it’s going to want a drink of milk. It’s gonna get mighty frustrated when it realizes it can’t clean all the floors in your house. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/18 "2011-10-28T18:54:42Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s gonna get mighty frustrated when it realizes it can’t clean all the floors in your house. Maybe we could mount it on top of a Roomba. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/19 "2011-10-28T19:01:58Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Maybe we could mount it on top of a Roomba. Do they give Nobel Prizes for creating monkey cyborgs? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023/20 "2011-10-28T19:19:16Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Do they give Nobel Prizes for creating monkey cyborgs? Well, they _should_. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-severed-human-head-be-kept-alive/601023.md?page=2)