Ren Xiaoping

Ren Xiaoping (Chinese: 任晓平; born 1961) is a Chinese orthopedic surgeon, and is most well known for being part of the team that achieved the first hand transplant.[1] He is currently a controversial figure as he announced his intent to perform a human head transplant, an operation that has never been done before.

Many criticized Ren, stating that the surgery would be impossible.[2] However, Ren remains hopeful that the surgery will be a success, and is continuing to acquire resources needed to have the surgery be performed.

Education and early work

Ren attended the Harbin Medical University in Harbin, China, and received his M.D. in 1984. From 1996 to 2000, he continued his education, performing research relating to anatomy and hand surgery. During this period, specifically on January 25, 1999, the first hand transplant was performed on Mathew Scott.[3] Ren was an influential figure in this achievement.

Head transplant

Mice experiments

Prior to his announcement of attempting the first human head transplant, Ren had spent years performing the same surgery on mice. However, the results of most of the experiments ended with the subject dying. One such experiment involved 40 Kunming mice, and another 40 C57 wild type mice. Out of 80 mice selected, only 18 survived, and only for three hours.[4] In those three hours, the mice were capable of breathing and acting normally. Ren has also stated to have practiced the procedure on human cadavers, but has yet to reveal any more information.

Criticism

Because of Ren's lack of success, many are skeptical of his idea. One example is that of Dr. Huang Jiefu, who commented that a spine's neurons can't be reconnected once the spine is cut. Many also criticize the procedure for being too expensive, and requiring too many people.

Unsurprisingly, many also claim that such a surgery is unethical.[5] Dr. Hunt Batjer is one such person. "I would not allow anyone to do it to me as there are a lot of things worse than death," stated Batjer, in reference to the surgery.

Human testing

Despite the criticism Ren has received for his announcement, he has still retained his volunteer, Valery Spiridonov. Valery suffers from muscular atrophy, which is what motivates him to go through with the surgery. In spite of the danger involved, Valery has no plans of backing out of the surgery, stating that his decision is final.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Composite Tissue Allotransplantation > The Doctors > The Nation's First Hand Transplant Team". www.handtransplant.com. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  2. ↑ Tatlow, Didi Kirsten (2016-06-12). "A surgeon's plan for a full-body transplant is making even China nervous". CNBC. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  3. ↑ "Composite Tissue Allotransplantation > The Procedure > Hand Transplant History". www.handtransplant.com. Retrieved 2016-06-23.
  4. ↑ Ren, Xiao-Ping; Song, Yang; Ye, Yi-Jie; Li, Peng-Wei; Han, Ke-Cheng; Shen, Zi-Long; Shan, Ji-Gang; Luther, Kristin; Yang, Bao-Feng (2014-11-01). "Allogeneic Head and Body Reconstruction: Mouse Model". CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics. 20 (12): 1056–1060. doi:10.1111/cns.12341. ISSN 1755-5949.
  5. ↑ "Chinese surgeon wants to create the first head-transplanted monkey". 2015-06-08. Retrieved 2016-06-24.
  6. ↑ Crew, Bec. "Controversial Chinese surgeon signs on to human head transplant project". Retrieved 2016-06-24.
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