Earlier this year, an Italian surgeon announced that hell be attempting the worlds first human

head transplant, that despite the hurdles, a human head may actually be attached onto another
persons body in two years. This week, a donor was introduced, but according to at least one
expert, this man might be facing something thats worse than death.
It started in 2013, when Sergio Canavero of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group
proposed the idea of using surgery to extend the lives of people with degenerated muscles and
nerves or cancer-permeated organs, New Scientist reports. Canavero summarized the36-hour
procedure he plans to follow in Surgical Neurology International in February of this year. He also
plans to launch the project at the annual American Academy of Neurological and Orthopaedic
Surgeons meeting in Maryland this June. Hell need a staff of 150 doctors and nurses.
Is it actually possible to fuse two spinal cords and stop the recipients body from rejecting the new
head? Last century attempts with dogs and monkeys resulted in animals who survived for a few
days, though a more recent mouse head transplant showed that it was basically possible. "I think
we are now at a point when the technical aspects are all feasible," Canavero says.
After cooling the donors body and the recipients head, neck tissue is dissected, blood vessels
are linked with tubes, and the spinal cords are cleanly severed, New Scientist explains. With the
new head on the body, the ends of the spinal cords are fused together using a chemical that
prompts fat in cell membranes to connect. Muscles and blood vessels will be sutured, and the
patient will be kept comatose as electrodes stimulate the spinal cord. He calls it HEAVEN, for
head anastomosis venture (anastomosis is the surgical connection of two parts).
This week, a volunteer was announced: 30-year-old Valery Spiridonov of Vladimir, Russia, who
suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Werdnig-Hoffman muscle wasting disease. He wants
the chance at a new body before he dies. Am I afraid? Yes, of course I am. But it is not just very
scary, but also very interesting, Spiridonov tells Daily Mail. You have to understand that I don't
really have many choices... If I don't try this chance my fate will be very sad. With every year my
state is getting worse.
But according to Hunt Batjer of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons, even if the
airway, spine, and major veins and arteries are put together, the spinal cord will be the real
problem. "I would not wish this on anyone, Batjer tells CNN. I would not allow anyone to do it to
me, there are a lot of things worse than death." For starters, the patient might not be able to
move or breathe. And Arthur Caplan of New York University thinks Canavero is nuts. "Their
bodies would end up being overwhelmed with different pathways and chemistry than they are
used to and they'd go crazy, he tells CNN. Also, the high levels of anti-rejection meds will poison
the body, and who knows if the recipients will fully gain the function of their new parts. "It's not
like you can unscrew your head and put it on someone else," Caplan adds.
Still, Canavero insists, we can already do this.
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