article_snippet.sent: The paper in which Canavero outlined his procedure references a different 1971 experiment White conducted with six monkey heads, none of which survived more than 24 hours.
article_snippet.sent: But Canavero says advances in science and medicine since then eliminate the problems White faced.
article_snippet.sent: Dr. Hunt Batjer, chairman of neurological surgery at UT Southwestern and president-elect of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons, says White research is not validation for a human head transplant.
article_snippet.sent: Batjer further explains that it's a great leap to go from brain survival of the surgery to restoring body function, which White did not look at.
article_snippet.sent: Canavero cites White monkeys and even the success of German researchers who helped paralyzed rats walk, giving no pause to the fact that such research is more likely to go nowhere than to make it to human clinical trials.
article_snippet.sent: In his paper, Canavero says identity issues could be a problem as the head gets used to the head new body.
article_snippet.sent: Canavero also says pain could be a problem.
article_snippet.sent: As far as immunosuppression, Canavero points to today's transplant successes as evidence this is not a problem.