The first human head transplant will soon happen and a likely date and location for the procedure have been revealed.
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero shocked the world when he proposed that a head transplant in humans is possible. Now, not only did the neurosurgeon have the time and location, but also the members of the team that will conduct the operation.
According to a report from RT, Canavero hopes to conduct the procedure by December 2017 and it is estimated to last for 36 hours.
Furthermore, the report stated that the procedure, which would likely happen in China, would cost $11 million.
The AFP also reported that the surgical team will be composed mainly of doctors from China, specifically, from Harbin Medical University in the northeast Heilongjiang province, as told by Ren Xiaoping, a member of the transplant team.
Canavero also has a volunteer patient; 30-year-old Valery Spiridonov, a computer scientist from Russia with Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, has expressed his willingness to go through the procedure despite the risks, Discovery News reported, citing Central European News.
The operation is already controversial enough, but the information that it's going to be conducted in China has raised concerns over the fact that the country has a reputation for using organs from death row inmates against their approval.
A human head transplant will surely be filled with challenges. There's that great possibility that the body will reject the head or vice versa.
Even if the procedure itself would be successful, there's no way of telling what would become of Spiridonov, mentally and personality-wise, as noted by a report from Gizmodo.
On the other hand, if the procedure proves to be successful, it could mean huge for the medical community.
In the procedure, it will involve severing the head of the donor and the patient simultaneously using a very sharp blade. The donor body will then receive the patient's head with biological glue and stitches to help it get attached.
The patient is expected to be in a coma for 30 days; when the patient regains consciousness, he will receive immunosuppressive drugs to stop the rejection process.
