Italy-based Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group director Dr Sergio Canavero has unveiled plans to carry out the first human head transplant within the next 24 months.
Dr Canavero announced that a 30-year-old Russian Valery Spiridonov, with degenerative muscular condition known as Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, has voluntarily agreed to undergo the controversial procedure.
Canavero has named his project as Heaven-Gemini, with the 'Heaven' part standing for 'head anastomosis venture'.
At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgeons, Italian neurosurgeon announced that the project will require an investment of around $100m, 150 surgeons and 36 hours in operating rooms.
The procedure of the head transplant will involve use of an ultra sharp special blade to cut the cord, use of chemical polyethylene glycol (PEG) and electrodes, which are expected to facilitate new connections and stimulation.
Canavero was quoted by the Guardian as saying that: "I came to you; I gladly accepted this invite to humbly come before you to make a case that this is possible."
Spiridonov was quoted by the news agency as saying: "I believe my body is just mechanics that I want to have removed."
Canavero plans to carry out head transplant procedure either in the US or China and intends to complete the project within two years.
However, New York University Langone Medical Center bioethics head Arthur Caplan was reported by Capital Gazette as saying that the high doses of immunosuppressive drugs needed to avoid organ rejection can be toxic even if spinal fusion and head-body transplantation were possible.
