Advertisement

Surgeon claims he's performed world's first human head transplant on a corpse

An Italian surgeon claims he has conducted the world's first head transplant on a human corpse.

Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero announced that a surgical team in China had succeeded in transferring a head from one cadaver and connecting it to the body of another by fusing the spine, nerves and blood vessels, the The Telegraph reports.

“The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done,” Canavero said.

“A full head swap between brain dead organ donors is the next stage."

Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero announced the first successful head transplant. Source: AAP
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero announced the first successful head transplant. Source: AAP

Canavero told a press conference “for too long nature has dictated her rules to us", The Telegraph reported.

“We’re born, we grow, we age and we die. For millions of years humans have evolved and 110 billion humans have died in the process. That’s genocide on a mass scale," he said.

“We have entered an age where we will take our destiny back in our hands.”

The procedure is said to have lasted 18 hours with Dr Canavero describing it as a "revolution".

Dr Canavero is the creator of HEAVEN - the “head anastomosis venture” project.

The project would see two teams of surgeons work to complete a successful head transplant by lopping off the heads of two men, one, the “recipient,” the other, the “donor".

The donor would be an accident victim whose brain was dead, but their body is otherwise healthy.

The procedure works by doctors fusing the spinal cord and attaching blood vessels and muscles, with the patient kept in a coma for a month as the person heals.

If it is successful, the patient could walk again, Canavero claims.

Dr Sergio Canavero at his press conference. Source: Supplied
Dr Sergio Canavero at his press conference. Source: Supplied

Many in the medical community said that not only is it doubtful the procedure will be successful, there also are ethical questions, saying that whoever undergoes the procedure will be in incredible pain, and not able to breathe or control their own heart rate, Newsweek reported.

Canavero cites studies on animals to support his plan, but other doctors say that "you’re not going to jump from rodent to human” and that Canavero’s plan is “criminal".

There’s also no basis for the supposition that the transplanted head — and brain — will retain the person’s mind, personality or consciousness once it’s hooked up to its new body.