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Comment by ch | Hacker News Reader

Considering that a face transplant currently requires a lifetime regimine of immunosuppressives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_transplant#Ethics.2C_Surge...) in order to have post-op acceptance of the transplant by the host, I would expect nothing less in this more extreme form of surgery.

I would hate to be the recipient of this procedure; then fin my body (their body?) rejecting the transplant!

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in the article " Immunosuppression is induced by a specific medication regimen and is monitored by the transplant physician and transplant coordinator. Posttransplant blood samples need to be drawn at regular intervals to screen for the development of antidonor antibodies. Ideally, serum is drawn concurrent with obtaining tissue biopsies to facilitate correlation of histology with systemic markers of immunologic activation. Biopsies should be performed regularly for suspected rejection or infection."

Would it be the body or the head that rejects the transplant? And what would actually happen if it is rejected? Sudden death? Slow death?

Both.

However, in this scenario, the body would have a distinct advantage (if you can call it that), given the disparity in mass and organ distribution. The body would have far more immune system capacity than the head in this case. White blood cells, for example, are produced in the bone marrow.

I'm no doctor, but given the importance of the brain and your spinal cord to even just the nervous system, I'd imagine that death would come rather quickly in an all out rejection.

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