X-Message-Number: 8442
From: "den Otter" <>
Subject: Severed head perfusion
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 03:36:35 +0200

Recently I've spotted the following book in a mail order catalog:
"IF WE CAN KEEP A SEVERED HEAD ALIVE" by Chet Fleming
(1988). It's supposedly about a method to keep the head of an 
animal (or a human) fully functioning and even conscious when
it's separated from the body and attached via tubing to a life-support
system which includes a "support animal". The brain could be kept alive
"almost indefinitely" There is also talk of  "transplanting heads" (onto
other bodies?)

Has anyone read this book? (I've ordered it right away, but shipment will
probably take a couple of weeks). Is there more recent news on this
fascinating subject ? If this method works properly, it *could* be an
alternative for cryonic suspension (in some cases anyway).
                                     ~~~~~~~~~~ 
Also it makes me wonder why open-heart surgery is used in neuro
suspensions.  Wouln't it be easier to sever the head, plug some tubing into
the main blood vessels and perfuse it using the standard circulation
machine. Anyone could learn this relatively simple
procedure, and it could in fact make the perfusion better by making
rapid cooling (of just the head) easier. Is this method already in use,
or are there too many problems with it?

DdO

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