# Medical Advancement - Brain Transplant Possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551 "2012-10-22T18:52:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/21 "2012-10-22T23:40:22Z")
We can’t just replace a heart in 2012, we can grow new simple organs and tissues like bladders, valves, arteries and tracheas out of stem cells, then implant them rathe than rely on donated ones. More complex organs can’t be built to scale yet, in part (I think in large part) because they can’t get the capillary system to function in large organs. But when they figure that out, maid to order organs should hopefully not be far behind. Maybe in 50-100 years science will be able to grow an entire body out of stem cells and transplant the head to them in cases of severe trauma or old age (although old age ravages the brain as well as the rest of the body so that probably wouldn’t accomplish much for adding to life span). Like Shagnasty has said, they’ve done it with monkeys. But they didn’t hook up the neurons, the monkey was paralyzed. On a long enough timeline I’m sure most things will be possible. I don’t see any moral qualms about this technology. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/22 "2012-10-22T23:47:44Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Where would you get the donated bodies? Maybe from someone dying of a brain tumor. You would get the bodies from the exact same place you currently get any donor organs, i.e. people who have suffered complete and irreversible damage to their brains. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/23 "2012-10-22T23:53:27Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I don’t see any moral qualms about this technology. Really? I see moral issues starting with the six simple machines. AFAIC every piece of technology has the potential for misuse. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/24 "2012-10-23T00:14:02Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Did he undertake to explain how those memories would be digitized? The same way all sorts of other data about the body can be digitized? Unless you buy into some variation of vitalism, it’s just data. > [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > It seems to me that current technology would allow a brain “transplant,” although the patient would be completely paralyzed. As well as being trapped in _complete_ sensory deprivation; they’d go insane. Until we can hook up the nerves there’s not much point to it. One of my personal speculations on how to perform such an operation (when we have the technology) is to work on the nerves in stages. Surgically sever a bunch of them, but not all; one optical nerve, one auditory nerve, etc. Then you graft onto the severed ends some kind of plugs\* and hook them back together. You then wait for them to heal and grow into the plugs. After that’s happened and their senses are restored, then you do the rest of the non-spinal nerves and let _them_ heal. And only then do you perform the transplant; you’ll probably need to do the spinal cord all at once then. Since the non-spinal nerves will all now have plugs, the person’s vision, hearing and so forth can be immediately enabled upon transplant; they’ll still be mostly paralyzed until the new spinal connection grows in though. The idea is to ensure that at no point are they completely cut off from the world \*They’ll likely have to be “smart” plugs, to deal with the nonstandardized partially self-wired nature of the nervous system, and later to reconfigure the signal to match what the new body uses ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/25 "2012-10-23T00:24:04Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > As well as being trapped in _complete_ sensory deprivation Did you read the next sentence in his post? That’s exactly what he said: > [@](#): > > It seems to me that current technology would allow a brain “transplant,” although the patient would be completely paralyzed. The vascular hookups are not that complicated. > > More importantly, without the cranial nerves (at least), it would be the worst case of locked in syndrome you could think of. Emphasis added. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/26 "2012-10-23T01:30:14Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Unless you buy into some variation of vitalism, it’s just data. Indeed - but does anyone currently have any idea how to connect to part of the brain and digitize its memories? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/27 "2012-10-23T18:31:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Didn’t Heinlein also do one about a brain transplant on Hitler? Not that I recall. > [@Xema](#): > > Did he undertake to explain how those memories would be digitized? Not that I recall. 😉 ---
**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 23, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/28 "2012-10-23T19:14:03Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Not that I recall. Well this is going to drive me crazy now. It was a short story, not positive about Heinlein but there’s some association there. It may not have been a brain transplant, but the switching of the minds in an operation occurred somehow. Perhaps not Hitler mentioned by name and referred to as The Leader or something like that. Off to Cafe Society now I guess.’ ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/29 "2012-10-23T19:31:45Z")
Isn’t this the primary premise of Frankenstein? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/30 "2012-10-23T19:59:51Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > There’s also a [DS9 episode](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Support_(Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine)) where a friend of Kira suffers brain injury and has part of his brain replaced Don’t forget “Spock’s Brain.” Yeah, I know, most Trekkers would. And technically, it wasn’t a transplant unless you count the Eymorgs putting his brain in their computer. But reimplanting Spock’s brain was beyond 23rd Century Federation technology, and once McCoy lost the knowledge given him by the teaching helmet, he had to be bailed out by Spock. Yeah, I know, bad story. Gene L. Coon wrote it using the pseudonym Lee Cronin. He wanted to make the point that Gene Roddenberry wouldn’t know bad science fiction if it bit him on the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/31 "2012-10-23T20:53:19Z")
There’s been a [documentary film](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brain_That_Wouldn%27t_Die) made on this very subject. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/32 "2012-10-23T22:00:26Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Isn’t this the primary premise of Frankenstein? Not really. Victor Frankenstein gets caught up in a combination of science and the occult, and experiments in trying to understand the nature of the life force, and rejuvenation. There isn’t a lot of description of how he makes the monster. There is mention of stealing corpses, but nothing really about how he reanimates the body, or the identity of the monster itself. The monster is a blank slate, a genius intelligence with no starting memories or identity. He becomes who he is from nothing, not the left over traces of the brain that was used. So brain transplant is really not relevant. Of course the movies have incorporated elements of brain transplants (i.e. Young Frankenstein) and the role of lightning. Those aren’t in the novel. ---
**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 24, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/33 "2012-10-24T01:04:38Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Not that I recall. [**Polycarp** came to the rescue here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15622158&postcount=4) The story is Heil! by Heinlein, but it’s the pineal gland that was transplanted, not the brain. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551/34 "2012-10-24T01:29:16Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Really? I see moral issues starting with the six simple machines. AFAIC every piece of technology has the potential for misuse. I live in an amoral bubble, so my perspective is skewed. I don’t know what capacity for abuse there would be per se, it would mostly be a medical tool for people whose bodies had been ravaged by disease or trauma. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-advancement-brain-transplant-possible/638551.md?page=1)