Surgical, ethical, and psychosocial considerations in human head transplantation.
Int J Surg
; 41: 190-195, 2017 May.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28110028
ABSTRACT
Transplanting a head and brain is perhaps the final frontier of organ transplantation. The goal of body-to-head transplantation (BHT) is to sustain the life of individuals who suffer from terminal disease, but whose head and brain are healthy. Ideally BHT could provide a lifesaving treatment for several conditions where none currently exists. BHT is no ordinary experiment, to transfer a head to another body involves extraordinarily complex medical challenges as well as ethical and existential dilemmas that were previously confined to the imagination of writers of fiction. The possibility of replacing an incurably ill body with a healthy one tests not only our surgical limits, but also the social and psychological boundaries of physical life and alters what we recognize life to be. The purpose of this target article, the complementary manuscript focused on immunological issues in BHT, and the accompanying Commentaries by scholars and practitioners in medicine, immunology, and bioethics is to review major surgical and psychosocial-ethical and immunological considerations surrounding body-to-head transplantation. We hope that together these ideas will provide readers with a comprehensive overview of the possibilities and challenges associated with BHT and initiate professional discussion and debate through which this new frontier in medicine is considered and approached.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Trasplante Homólogo
/
Trasplante de Tejido Encefálico
/
Trasplante de Órganos
/
Cabeza
Aspecto:
Ethics
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Surg
Año:
2017
Tipo del documento:
Article