First ever human head transplant soon to be a reality
In what could be a breakthrough similar to putting man on the moon, an Italian surgeon is performing a head transplant surgery on a 30-year-old Russian, an operation that is making big news around the world.
Valery Spiridonov, who suffers from a rare genetic muscle-wasting disorder that has no known cure, is volunteering for the surgery in which his head will be transplanted onto the body of a brain dead man with a healthy body.
In an interview with Russia Today, Valery Spiridonov said, “Doing this isn’t only an excellent opportunity for me, but will also create a scientific basis for future generations, no matter what the actual outcome of the surgery is”.
Renowned Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero is orchestrating this operation that is reportedly going to last up to 36 hours and will cost over $11 million.
Speaking to RT, the scientist compared this operation with Russia sending Yuri Gagarin into space, and the US sending Neil Armstrong to the moon, experimental projects where there was fair chance of both men dying. “Here the chances are much much better than for those two”, he said.
In a TedX talk, Dr. Canavero has explained this procedure, referring to it as HEAVEN (an acronym for “head anastomosis venture”). Watch the video here:
The disease Spiridonov suffers from is getting worse and he may not live for more than 20 years. The success of this surgery will not only give him a new body, but is a big leap forward in medical research.
But a failure can be disastrous, says Dr. Hunt Batjer, president elect of the American Association for Neurological Surgeons. “I would not allow anyone to do it to me as there are a lot of things worse than death”, he has told CNN.
However, Spiridonov knows that there is a risk involved. But he has volunteered because, in his own words, “in the future it will help thousands of people who are in an even more deplorable state than I am (in)”, He told RT.
Good luck to this courageous man who is taking destiny into his own hands.
