Scientists have revived a dead man's head. Doctors are ready for a human head transplant

The fantastic experiment of Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty ended in triumph. His wife Brenda died many years ago, but her head is still “alive and well.” According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak using a special device.

Now remember A. Belyaev’s novel “The Head of Professor Dowell.” Scientist Dowell created a solution with which the human head can guide relative full life. He is convinced that his discovery will bring good to people, but can this really be?

In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist A.A. Kulyabko, after reviving the child’s heart (removed from the corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours), tried to revive the head.
In the beginning it was the head of a fish. A special liquid, a blood substitute, was supplied to the head through the blood vessels. The result was incredible: the head moved its eyes and fins, opened and closed its mouth - all this eloquently indicated that it was alive!

In 1928, physiologists S.S. Bryukhonenko and S.I. Chechulin demonstrated the living head of a warm-blooded animal - a dog. Connected to the heart-lung machine, she was quite active. When a swab soaked in acid was placed on the tongue of a dog's head, it attempted to throw out the irritant; if a piece of sausage was placed in its mouth, the head licked itself. When a stream of air was directed into the eyes, they blinked.

In 1959, successful experiments with dog heads were repeatedly conducted by Professor V.P. Demikhov. At the same time, he was convinced that it was quite possible to maintain life in the human head.

Well, now about the most incredible thing: were similar experiments with a man's head? This question is not easy and is associated with moral and deep social problems problems that surgeons will inevitably encounter when transplanting the head of one person to the torso of another. Therefore, this kind of information is always kept under the cover of secrecy.

And yet, in the mid-70s of the 20th century, a sensational message flashed in the press. Two German neurosurgeons, Wallner Kreiter and Henry Courage, managed to maintain life in an amputated human head for twenty days. A forty-year-old man who had just been injured in a car accident was brought to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from his body; saving the man was out of the question.

In this situation, neurosurgeons decided to try to keep life at least in the victim’s brain. A life support system was connected to the head, and for almost three weeks after that it kept the brain of a man whose body had long been dead active. Moreover, the doctors established contact with the head. True, she could not speak, she did not have a throat, but by the movement of her lips, scientists “read” many words, from which it clearly followed that she understood what was happening to her.

Finally, Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty did the seemingly impossible. His wife Brenda was diagnosed with cancer. The terrible news prompted Truman to develop a life support device. The disease progressed rapidly, and the doctor lost hope of saving the dying woman. And then he made an attempt to save his head.

The entire operation took about six hours. Doughty knew full well that he could end up behind bars on murder charges. The doctor took a risk, but, as it turned out, the risk was not in vain. The fantastic experiment ended in triumph. By the way, Brenda did not doubt for a minute the need for the operation and agreed to it. For several years, Truman hid the fact that his wife’s head was alive and well. Only recently did the world learn about the incredible event. According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak using a special device.
It’s hard to believe in all this, but one thing is clear: Alexander Belyaev’s scientific ideas have become a reality.

Modern medicine works real miracles. Thus, recently a team of Australian doctors from St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, together with scientists from an Australian research institute, learned to restore life and maintain it in dead hearts after they had long been disabled - for subsequent transplantation to patients. Previously, throughout the world, only living organs that were still beating were used for this purpose - they were taken from patients diagnosed with brain death. Australian scientists have revived hearts thanks to a special solution made from donor blood and connected to a special device that allows them to maintain the heart in a normal state outside a living organism.

Everyone perceived such an experiment as a miracle (which is quite fair), and the development will truly revolutionize the field of organ transplantation. But, in fact, in the history of medicine there have already been experiments on revival, and also quite successful.

It all started with fish

In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist Alexei Kulyabko managed to revive the heart of a child. Taken out of a corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours - at that time this was an even more unthinkable scientific breakthrough. The scientist did not stop there and decided to revive not only the heart, but also the head - however, not a person, but a fish. A special liquid, something like a blood substitute, entered it through the blood vessels. The result was stunning: the head really came to life, began to move its eyes and fins, and open its mouth. The scientist did not go further than the fish head, returning to further experiments on reviving the heart.

Inspired by Kulyabko's experience, Ivan Pavlov's student Sergei Chechulin, together with his colleague, physiologist Sergei Bryukhonenko, revived the dog's head in 1928. All kinds of tests demonstrated that the animal retained all the reactions of a living creature, including taste buds.

In 1959, successful experiments with dog heads were repeatedly carried out by Russian professor Vladimir Demikhov, a luminary of transplantology. Before that, he revived and transplanted not only hearts into people, but also other vital organs: lungs, liver, heart-lung complexes. Demikhov also created the world's first artificial heart. What the scientist did was teetering on the edge of fantasy, and he decided to finally conquer the whole world by creating a two-headed dog in 1954.

That is, one head of the animal was its own, the second was taken from a dead relative and successfully came to life, thanks to the “nutrition” of the new owner. After Demikhov gave the world two dozen two-headed dogs, he said that it was quite possible to maintain life in a human head. True, the matter still did not reach people then.

From monkeys to people

American scientists have also succeeded in reviving heads. So, in 1973, Professor Robert White began to look for ways to preserve the brains of outstanding individuals. As part of this project, he conducted a number of experiments, including operations in which two monkeys were switched heads, while maintaining the functions of their brains. A series of similar transplants, which continued until recently, showed that transplanted heads react to light, sound, and smell. The rest of the body, although it continues to live, is paralyzed: none of the signals from the brain reaches the organs, since the transmission of nerve impulses in the transplanted body is interrupted. However, such animals lived for quite a long time.

And in the early 2000s, White announced that he was going to transplant a human head. According to him, this will help completely paralyzed people and other patients with serious illnesses whose brains remain healthy. However, this caused fierce resistance from the scientific community, which considers such experiments unethical. So White did not officially conduct experiments on people, although many suspected that the scientist did not simply give up his idea. But, of course,What kind of information is not disclosed.

But in the mid-70s, two German neurosurgeons Wallner Kreiger and Henry Courage managed to maintain life in an amputated human head for 20 days. The body of a 40-year-old man, who had just been injured in a car accident, was brought to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from his body and was held on only by a few veins, so there was no talk of saving the man. Then the neurosurgeons decided to try to keep life at least in the victim’s brain. A life support system was connected to her head, and she lived for almost three weeks after the death of her body (cardiac arrest). The brain functioned normally and the person understood what was happening to him. Since there was no throat, the head did not make any sounds, but it moved its lips so that one could understand what it was talking about.

And last year, the world was shocked by a scientific article by Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero from the University of Turin. He explained how a human head can be successfully transplanted and thereby help people who have suffered life-threatening body injuries. The main problem that made this operation problematic was the nerve connections of the spinal cord. According to Canavero, there are now technologies and drugs that can make head transplants successful.

In the meantime, the neurosurgeon is exploring the possibility of transplanting the brain and spinal cord or parts thereof. He believes that the most effective “connection” can be achieved only by significantly simplifying the procedure for organ transplantation. When making many small cuts during transplantation, instead of one continuous one, the body will quickly start the regeneration process, which will greatly facilitate the integration of the foreign organ.

Truman's Love

But the palm in this area belongs to the Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty, who in 1989 revived the head of his wife who died of cancer - he created a special life support system for this and connected his wife’s head to it. The scientist spent about six hours carrying out the unique operation. But the effort was worth it: the head lives to this day.

Of course, Doughty could have gone to prison for his experiment on charges of murder, but he still took the risk. It is noteworthy that the wife completely trusted her husband and without hesitation (when her body was alive) gave her consent to the operation. A woman can communicate with her husband through the use of a special device. Of course, when the world learned about the experiment, a hail of accusations fell on Doughty’s head, but he adequately answered his opponents: “I’m just prolonging the life of my wife. Let them say whatever they want, but one day they will understand that I took the first step on the path, which will radically change our world."

So Belyaev’s fantastic ideas, embodied in the novel “The Head of Professor Dowell,” become a reality. But the book was published back in 1925. According to supporters of such experiments, transplanting an entire head or brain should be the next step in the field of organ transplantation. First of all, it will help completely paralyzed people. Besides, as scientists say, why transplant individual parts of the body if you can replace it entirely? As experiments show, when a whole head is transplanted, there are no problems with the organs of vision, hearing and smell, since the nerves connecting them to the brain are not affected. Of course, such experiments may seem unethical for now, but such doubts arose at all stages of the development of transplantation, including heart transplantation. Now such operations are perceived by society as completely normal.

Today, humanity is faced with the fact that its needs cannot be fully satisfied by land, because it occupies only a fifth of the planet’s surface. This is what makes earthlings penetrate into the depths of the seas, where inexhaustible riches are stored.

The first steps in mastering the “world without the sun” have already been taken. Artificial algae plantations and pastures for fish, crustaceans and mollusks are being created. And the discovery of huge reserves of manganese, iron and other minerals on the ocean floor is rapidly bringing us closer to the time when continental shelf Plants and factories can be erected, mines will start operating, next to which there will be underwater settlements.

So, man has to explore the depths of the ocean. But how to do that? It is known that only the hero of the science fiction novel “Amphibian Man” by A. Belyaev, Ichthyander, to whom a brilliant surgeon transplanted shark gills, managed to exist under water. It must be said that A. Belyaev’s fiction was so attractive and seemed so plausible that some, back in the late 40s of the 20th century, accepted it as reality. In his fascinating book “Stories about Surgeons,” the famous Soviet doctor F.A. Kopylov cites an interesting fact.

"One of the surgeons working on the outskirts Soviet Union, said that a village guy approached him with a request to transplant fish gills into him. There are no sharks in those parts, and the guy took a fancy to the gills of the catfish. To swim underwater for hours, as depicted in the novel, this man was willing to do anything. He thought through everything and provided for everything. The guy even offered to issue a special receipt so that the surgeon would not be stopped by the possibility fatal outcome operations."

Perform such an operation despite high level development of medicine, until recently was considered impossible. However, recently all scientific world was shocked by the sensational message. In Cape Town, in the clinic that was once headed by K. Bernard, who was the first to successfully perform a human heart transplant, another stunning operation was performed.

A black youth, stricken with pulmonary failure (the result of advanced tuberculosis), had shark gills transplanted. The patient refused a donor lung transplant, explaining it as follows. Firstly, he does not have enough money to pay for the cost of this organ and the operation. And he was offered to undergo gill transplantation free of charge, at the expense of the scientific fund. Secondly, the young man himself became disillusioned with his way of life on earth and wanted to start all over again, already in the ocean. The operation was successful. Now doctors are carefully monitoring whether a rejection reaction of the transplanted organ will begin, trying to prevent this with the help of special drugs.

If everything that has been said is not an information canard, then very soon a real Ichthyander will be swimming in the ocean! Now remember A. Belyaev’s novel “The Head of Professor Dowell.” Scientist Dowell created a solution with which the human head can lead a relatively full life. He is convinced that his discovery will bring good to people, but can this really be?

In 1959, successful experiments with dog heads were repeatedly conducted by Professor V.P. Demikhov. At the same time, he was convinced that it was quite possible to maintain life in the human head.

Well, now about the most incredible thing: have similar experiments been carried out with the human head? This question is not simple and is associated with moral and deep social problems that surgeons will inevitably face when transplanting the head of one person to the torso of another. Therefore, this kind of information is always kept under the cover of secrecy.

The first steps in mastering the “world without the sun” have already been taken.

Artificial algae plantations and pastures for fish, crustaceans and mollusks are being created.
And the discovery of huge reserves of manganese, iron and other minerals on the ocean floor is rapidly bringing us closer to the time when plants and factories can be erected on the continental shelf, mines will be operational, next to which there will be underwater settlements.

So, man has to explore the depths of the ocean.
But how to do that?

It is known that only the hero of the science fiction novel “Amphibian Man” by A. Belyaev, Ichthyander, to whom a brilliant surgeon transplanted shark gills, managed to exist under water.
It must be said that A. Belyaev’s fiction was so attractive and seemed so plausible that some, back in the late 40s of our (!) century, accepted it as reality.

In his fascinating book “Stories about Surgeons,” the famous Soviet doctor F.A. Kopylov cites an interesting fact.

To swim underwater for hours, as depicted in the novel, this man was willing to do anything. He thought through everything and provided for everything.

The guy even offered to issue a special receipt so that the surgeon would not be stopped by the possibility of a fatal outcome of the operation."

To perform such an operation, despite the high level of development of medicine, until recently was considered impossible, but recently the entire scientific world was shocked by a sensational message.

In Cape Town, in the clinic that was once headed by K. Bernard, who was the first to successfully perform a human heart transplant, another stunning operation was performed.

A black youth, whose name is still kept secret, stricken with pulmonary failure (the result of advanced tuberculosis), had shark gills transplanted.
The patient refused a donor lung transplant, explaining it as follows.
Firstly, he does not have enough money to pay for the cost of this organ and the operation. And he was offered to undergo gill transplantation free of charge, at the expense of the scientific fund.
Secondly, the young man himself became disillusioned with his way of life on earth and wanted to start all over again, already in the ocean.

The operation was successful.
Now doctors are carefully monitoring whether a rejection reaction of the transplanted organ will begin, trying to prevent this with the help of special drugs.

If everything that has been said is not an information canard, then very soon a real Ichthyander will be swimming in the ocean!

Now remember the novel by A: Belyaev “The Head of Professor Dowell”.
Scientist Dowell created a solution with which the human head can lead a relatively full life.
He is convinced that his discovery will bring good to people, but can this really be?
Nonsense, absolutely unrealistic! - the educated reader will exclaim.
However, don't be so categorical.

In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist A.A. Kulyabko, after reviving the child's heart - removed from the corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours - tried to revive the head. In the beginning it was the head of a fish.

A special liquid, a blood substitute, was supplied through the blood vessels into the cut head.
The result was incredible: the head moved its eyes and fins, opened and closed its mouth - all this eloquently indicated that it was alive!

In 1928, physiologists S.S. Bryukhonenko and S.I. Chechulin showed the living head of a warm-blooded animal - a dog.

Connected to the heart-lung machine, she was quite active.
When a swab soaked in acid was placed on the tongue of a dog's head, it attempted to throw out the irritant; if a piece of sausage was placed in its mouth, the head licked itself.
When a stream of air was directed into the eyes, they blinked.

In 1959, successful experiments with dog heads were repeatedly conducted by Professor V.P. Demikhov.

At the same time, he was convinced that it was quite possible to maintain life in the human head.

Well, now about the most incredible thing: have similar experiments been carried out with the human head?
This question is not simple and is associated with moral and deep social problems that surgeons will inevitably face when transplanting the head of one person to the torso of another.
Therefore, this kind of information is always kept under the cover of secrecy.

And yet, in the mid-70s, a sensational message flashed in the press.

Two German neurosurgeons, Wallner Kreiter and Henry Courage, managed to maintain life in an amputated human head for twenty days.
A forty-year-old man who had just been injured in a car accident was brought to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from his body; saving the man was out of the question.

In this situation, neurosurgeons decided to try to keep life at least in the victim’s brain.
A life support system was connected to the head, and for almost three weeks after that it kept the brain of a man whose body had long been dead active.
Moreover, the doctors established contact with the head.
True, she could not speak, she did not have a throat, but by the movement of her lips, scientists “read” many words, from which it clearly followed that she understood what was happening to her.

Finally, Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty did the seemingly impossible.

In 1989, his wife Brenda was diagnosed with cancer.
The terrible news prompted Truman to develop a life support device.
The disease progressed rapidly, and the doctor lost hope of saving the dying woman. And then he made an attempt to save his head.

The entire operation took about six hours.

Doughty knew full well that he could end up behind bars on murder charges. The doctor took a risk, but, as it turned out, the risk was not in vain. The fantastic experiment ended in triumph.
By the way, Brenda did not doubt for a minute the necessity of the operation and agreed to it.

For several years, Truman hid the fact that his wife’s head was alive and well. Only recently did the world learn about the incredible event.

According to Doughty, Brenda is able to speak using a special device.

It’s hard to believe all this, but one thing is clear:

Alexander Belyaev's scientific ideas became reality.

Text: Alexander POTAPOV

The first steps in mastering the “world without the sun” have already been taken. Artificial plantations of algae, pastures of fish, crustaceans and mollusks are being created, and the discovery of huge reserves of manganese, iron and other minerals on the ocean floor is rapidly bringing us closer to the time when plants and factories can be erected on the continental shelf, mines will start operating, next to which will contain underwater settlements.

So, man has to explore the depths of the ocean. But how to do that? It is known that only the hero of the science fiction novel “Amphibian Man” by A. Belyaev, Ichthyander, to whom a brilliant surgeon transplanted shark gills, managed to exist under water. It must be said that A. Belyaev’s fiction was so attractive and seemed so plausible that some, back in the late 40s of our (!) century, accepted it as reality. In his fascinating book “Stories about Surgeons,” the famous Soviet doctor F.A. Kopylov cites an interesting fact.

“One of the surgeons working on the outskirts of the Soviet Union said that a village guy approached him with a request to transplant fish gills into him. There are no sharks in those parts, and the guy took a fancy to catfish gills. So that he could swim underwater for hours, as depicted in the novel ", this man was ready for anything. He thought through everything and provided for everything. The guy even offered to issue a special receipt so that the surgeon would not be stopped by the possibility of a fatal outcome of the operation."

To perform such an operation, despite the high level of development of medicine, until recently was considered impossible. However, recently the entire scientific world was shocked by a sensational message. In Cape Town, in the clinic that was once headed by K. Bernard, who was the first to successfully perform a human heart transplant, another stunning operation was performed.

A black youth, stricken with pulmonary insufficiency (the result of advanced tuberculosis), had shark gills transplanted. The patient refused a donor lung transplant, explaining it as follows. Firstly, he does not have enough money to pay for the cost of this organ and the operation. And he was offered to undergo gill transplantation free of charge, at the expense of the scientific fund. Secondly, the young man himself became disillusioned with his way of life on earth and wanted to start all over again, already in the ocean. The operation was successful. Now doctors are carefully monitoring whether a rejection reaction of the transplanted organ will begin, trying to prevent this with the help of special drugs.

In 1902, the famous Russian physiologist A.A. Kulyabko, after reviving the child’s heart (removed from the corpse, it acted outside the body for several hours), tried to revive the head.

In the beginning it was the head of a fish. A special liquid, a blood substitute, was supplied to the head through the blood vessels. The result was incredible: the head moved its eyes and fins, opened and closed its mouth - all this eloquently indicated that it was alive!

In 1928, physiologists S.S. Bryukhonenko and S.I. Chechulin showed the living head of a warm-blooded animal - a dog. Connected to the heart-lung machine, she was quite active. When a swab soaked in acid was placed on the tongue of a dog's head, it attempted to throw out the irritant; if a piece of sausage was placed in its mouth, the head licked itself. When a stream of air was directed into the eyes, they blinked.

In 1959, successful experiments with dog heads were repeatedly conducted by Professor V.P. Demikhov. At the same time, he was convinced that it was quite possible to maintain life in the human head.

And yet, in the mid-70s, a sensational message flashed in the press. Two German neurosurgeons, Wallner Kreiter and Henry Courage, managed to maintain life in an amputated human head for twenty days. A forty-year-old man who had just been injured in a car accident was brought to the clinic. His head was almost torn off from his body; saving the man was out of the question.

Finally, Philadelphia doctor Truman Doughty did the seemingly impossible. In 1989, his wife Brenda was diagnosed with cancer. The terrible news prompted Truman to develop a life support device. The disease progressed rapidly, and the doctor lost hope of saving the dying woman. And then he made an attempt to save his head.

It’s hard to believe in all this, but one thing is clear: Alexander Belyaev’s scientific ideas have become a reality.

Alexander Potapov, “Continent”

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