The world has never seen it done before, and an Italian neuroscientist attempts to do the impossible.
Dr. Sergio Canavero of Italy's Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group has announced that his plan to perform the first successful human head transplant will push through in 2017. His plan, which he calls "HEad Anatomosis VENture," or simply, "HEAVEN," has previously been met with extreme skepticism, ranging from medical concerns to ethical questions.
Dr. Canavero has said that the procedure's ultimate goal is life extension. "We must go to the moon to test who we are, to test our skills, to test our confidence, to see what kind of men we are," the doctor said on his presentation last July at the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopedic Surgeons conference in Annapolis, Maryland.
It seems like it's all systems go for Canavero's hair-raising experiment. Dr. Ren Xiaoping, a surgeon in Harbin Medical University in China, is now on-board the project as his assistant. The procedure is scheduled to be done in China two years from now.
"Dr. Ren is the only person in the world able to lead this project. With its outstanding organizational ability and group operational ability, China might be the best choice to carry out head transplants," Canavero said.
Dr. Xiaoping isn't exactly novice to head transplants, as it is reported that he has performed more than 1,000 head transplants on mice. This will be the first time he will ever attempt to do it on a human, however.
This human is the project's volunteer, 30-year-old Valery Spiridonov, a Russian computer scientist. Spiridonov is suffering from a rare genetic muscle-wasting condition known as Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, which has no known cure.
"You have to understand that I don't really have many choices. If I don't try this chance my fate will be very sad. With every year my state is getting worse," Spiridonov told MailOnline.
The idea of beheading an individual and transfering the head to another body, albeit for scientific and medical purposes, raises much controversy. Aside from ethical and moral questions, the procedure is extremely dangerous and poses many fatal uncertainties.
According to Medical News Today, Dr. Canavero's plan is to remove the patient's head using an 'ultra-sharp' blade, and then attach it to the donor body. The recipient will be kept in a coma for around 3-4 weeks to give the nerve connections time to fuse. He believes that with the help of physical therapy, the patient will be able to walk within a year.
The protocol is not as simple as it sounds. Even Canavero's paper states that there is only 10 to 15 percent chance that neurons will likely fuse. Naturally, other neuroscientists are skeptical.
Harry Goldsmith, a clinical professor of neurological surgery at the University of California, told New Scientist, "This is such an overwhelming project, the possibility of it happening is very unlikely."
The possibility of a successful human head transplant has been around since the 1950s, and in 1970, English neurosurgeon Dr. Robert White conducted the first head transplant on a monkey. The monkey lived for nine days.
