The first human head transplant is scheduled to take place in December 2017. Researchers led by Dr. Sergio Canavero want to perform the first human head transplant and they already have a volunteer. Valery Sprinidov has Werdnig-Hoffmann disease and has agreed to be the first patient to undergo the procedure, reports ABC News. “When I realized that I could participate in something really big and important, I had no doubt left in my mind and started to work in this direction,” Spiridonov told Discovery News. “The only thing I feel is the sense of pleasant impatience.”
Canavero has published two articles that claim the procedure would work. He cites advancements in technology that would allow his team to cool the body and make clean cuts on the spinal cord as the reason a human head transplant could be successful. Previous tests on animals have resulted in them dying shortly after the transplant was performed.
