In a first, Iranian surgeons reattach man's head to neck successfully

In an extremely rare and complicated surgical procedure, a team of Iranian surgeons successfully managed to reattach a young patient’s head to his neck after he suffered a severe and life-threatening trauma earlier this month.

Dr. Sam Zeraatian-Nejad Davani, Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery at Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS), who led the team, said the 28-year-old patient has been discharged from the hospital and shows no neurological or motor deficiencies.

“This means the patient is able to walk and talk normally and did not suffer any complications or any side effects associated with the surgery,” Dr. Davani told the Press TV website in an exclusive interview.

“The surgery was performed for the first time in Iran as far as I know, according to the scientific articles written on the subject,” he hastened to add.

Surgeons in other countries have attempted such high-risk surgeries at least three times, he said, but while the patients survived, they reported neurological defects or sensory or motor dysfunctions.

“Our patient’s neck was completely transected. However, the spinal cord was not injured and carried signals between the brain and the body,” Dr. Davani remarked.

Nonetheless, he said, all components of the neck including the trachea, the esophagus as well as carotid artery that supplies blood into the brain subclavian artery were cut due to a stab wound.

Iran has made rapid strides in the field of science and technology in recent years in the face of Western sanctions, accomplishing many rare feats.

Earlier this month Heidar Mohammadi, the head of the Food and Drug Administration, said exports of medicine and medical equipment in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (which began on March 21) surged by 300 percent.

MG