"US Company Declares 'Whole Human Head Transplant'... Experts React?"

BrainBridge Releases Surgery Demonstration Video
Experts Skeptical... "Absurd Claims"

A startup company in the United States has claimed to have developed a technology that involves removing a person's entire head and transplanting it onto another person's body. However, experts are questioning whether this surgery can become a reality.

On the 22nd (local time), foreign media including the New York Post reported that the US startup 'BrainBridge,' headquartered in Dubai, released a video graphically depicting the surgical process of transplanting the head of a patient (recipient) with disease or disability onto the body of a brain-dead donor.

The company stated that the patient’s brain and spinal cord would be transferred to a healthy body, and the head owner’s memories and consciousness would be preserved. They also claimed that undergoing this surgery would allow one to live much longer than the average lifespan, presenting it as an innovative treatment that surpasses the current limits of medicine.

BrainBridge announced that it would be ready to perform the first surgery within approximately eight years. Hashem Al Gaily, who leads the project, said, “The goal of our technology is to provide innovative solutions to people fighting life-threatening conditions by surpassing the limits of medical science,” adding, “We have opened the door to life-saving treatments that were unimaginable just a few years ago.”

Brainbridge's Demonstration Video of Head Transplant (Image Source=Screenshot from Hashem Al-Ghaili's Instagram)

According to the video released by the company, both the patient with the head and the donor with the body are first cooled before surgery to prevent brain damage. BrainBridge claims that an artificial intelligence (AI) system controls all surgical procedures to ensure precise connection of nerves and muscles. After surgery, the patient undergoes a process of immune system monitoring and regaining brain control over the body while in a coma in the intensive care unit for up to one month.

However, experts have expressed skepticism about BrainBridge’s claims. Dr. Karan Rangarajan, a surgeon at the NHS (National Health Service) in Hampshire, UK, said, “Even if all nerves are connected during the head transplant surgery, if even one nerve connection fails after surgery, the patient could die immediately,” adding, “Moreover, lifelong medication would be necessary to prevent transplant rejection.”

Dr. Ahmad Al-Khayat, a neuroscience expert at King’s College London, UK, pointed out, “This surgery seriously oversimplifies how the brain functions.” Dr. Dean Burnett, a neuroscience researcher at Cardiff University, also dismissed the procedure as “close to an absurd claim in many respects,” calling it “the most extreme hypothesis among private companies’ claims about future technologies.”

On online communities and social media (SNS), opinions emerged that even if BrainBridge’s claims become reality, ethical debates would follow. In 2016, the Ethics and Legal Committee of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies declared human head transplantation unethical.