# How close are we to doing a head transplant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2009, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922 "2009-09-21T09:41:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/1 "2009-09-21T09:41:02Z")
I just watched X-Files: I want to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/2 "2009-09-21T09:54:28Z")
Not at all. We have no reliable way of reattaching even a single nerve fiber, let alone an entire spinal cord. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/3 "2009-09-21T10:32:03Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Not at all. We have no reliable way of reattaching even a single nerve fiber, let alone an entire spinal cord. Agreed. A manned Mars mission is much closer. ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/4 "2009-09-21T13:05:31Z")
What about a head installed on some robotic device, maintained alive through artificial blood flow and having some control over the robotic base through a brain-machine interface ? We are much closer to creating reliable brain-machine interfaces than reconnecting a single nerve fiber ! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/5 "2009-09-21T13:54:16Z")
there is some video footage i recall of russian(?) reattaching/transplanting dog’s head. though there was video footage that looked like an alien autopsy too. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/6 "2009-09-21T13:55:18Z")
aren’t nerves reattached in limb/digit injuries and reattachment? nerves were attached in hand and face transplants. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/7 "2009-09-21T14:37:14Z")
Hopefully a neural surgeon will come along to clarify things, but as I understand it, they basically just attach the two ends of the severed nerves together, cross their fingers, and hope the nerves can sort themselves out. If they’re lucky, some sort of connection will be made, and limited communication will occur. Clearly, this is miles and miles away from what we’d need to get an entire spinal column to work. There have been some successes with injecting neural stem cells into the area, but that’s still got a long way to go, too. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/8 "2009-09-21T15:30:58Z")
[It’s been done](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1263758.stm) ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/9 "2009-09-21T15:40:18Z")
> [@](#): > > there is some video footage i recall of russian(?) reattaching/transplanting dog’s head. though there was video footage that looked like an alien autopsy too. Both are fake, obviously the second one. The dog head video is actually pretty entertaining. I believe its from the 30s or 40s and has the special effects quality of a movie of that period. > [@](#): > > It’s been done Oh, I dont doubt that you can take a head and sew it onto something. I think the question has more to do with transplanting a head onto a new headless body and being able to control that body. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/10 "2009-09-21T15:49:28Z")
I thought the dog one was real. ☹ What about the monkey? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/11 "2009-09-21T15:59:41Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > [It’s been done](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1263758.stm) Or not. From that same article: > [@](#): > > "It’s entirely misleading to suggest that a head transplant or a brain transplant is actually really still connected in anything except in terms of blood stream to the body to which it has been transplanted. > > “It’s not controlling or relating to that body in any other sort of way.” > > He added: “It’s scientifically misleading, technically irrelevant and scientifically irrelevant, and apart from anything else a grotesque breach of any ethical consideration.” > > "It’s a mystification to call it either a head transplant or a brain transplant. > > “All you’re doing is keeping a severed head alive in terms of the circulation from another animal. It’s not connected in any nervous sense.” ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/12 "2009-09-21T18:10:59Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#): > > Both are fake, obviously the second one. The dog head video is actually pretty entertaining. I believe its from the 30s or 40s and has the special effects quality of a movie of that period. > > Oh, I dont doubt that you can take a head and sew it onto something. I think the question has more to do with transplanting a head onto a new headless body and being able to control that body. I don’t know what your opinion of Soviet medicine is, but [Vladimir Demikhov](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Demikhov) is generally considered to have grafted a head on a dog. Not a full transplant. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/13 "2009-09-21T18:43:44Z")
Years ago I had reason to interview Dr. Robert White ([Robert J. White - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._White)) for a documentary, and he’s a really interesting fellow. While the monkey-head transplant was considered “successful”, the head still cannot control the rest of the body. So to answer the OP, we’re probably not far off from having the same success with a human head, assuming you have two willing participants. Whether it will ever be done is another question. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/14 "2009-09-21T18:52:30Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > [It’s been done](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/1263758.stm) Look at me, I’m Davy Crockett! ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@Brainiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/15 "2009-09-21T19:15:24Z")
The problem is figuring out where the soul resides, the main theme of parts replacement in sci-fi. I’m voting for the heart, with the eyes just the windows, out of Shakespearean nostalgia. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/16 "2009-09-21T19:32:37Z")
> [@Brainiac](#): > > The problem is figuring out where the soul resides, Not in GQ, it’s not. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/17 "2009-09-21T19:36:04Z")
\>I don’t know what your opinion of Soviet medicine is, but Vladimir Demikhov is generally considered to have grafted a head on a dog. Not a full transplant. Im specifically addressing the video that was popular on the internet a few years back. The video was faked propaganda. The dogs head was barking (without lungs), breathing (without lungs), and was suspiciously framed for camera. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Soviet authorities mocked up the video to show off their achievements, real or not. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-are-we-to-doing-a-head-transplant/510922/18 "2009-09-22T00:14:22Z")
Would it be worth doing? You would have to choose to devote the organs of the donor body- heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, etc.- to give one person a poor quality, expensive and probably short life, versus extending the lives of several recipients needing organ transplants. And as noted we’re nowhere near being able to restore even minimal function to someone with a completely severed spinal cord. And that’s a _head_ transplant. A **brain** transplant is science fiction on a level with being able to create a replacement cloned body.