Plans for human head transplants move forward

An Italian surgeon who plans to perform the world’s first head transplant on a human says he has succeeded in performing the procedure on a monkey.

Dr Sergio Canavero claims that he performed the shocking experiment at Harbin Medical University in China, and said: “The monkey fully survived the procedure without any neurological injury of whatever kind.”

Describing the procedure, Dr Canavero explained how a team of researchers connected the blood supply between the head and a new body — after the monkey’s head was chilled to -15c.

However, Canavero’s claims are entirely unverified at present — with no scientific confirmation. The maverick surgeon already has his first willing participant for a proposed human head transplant, Valery Spiridonov — who is willing to undergo the procedure despite the enormous unknown risks.

Canavero previously said that the”‘final goal” of his work is to achieve immortality — with interest emerging from older patients looking to graft their heads onto younger bodies.

He says that the procedure for a full head transplant will be ready before the end of 2017 and could eventually become a way of treating complete paralysis.