First human head transplant to take place in 2017 in China

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The first human head transplant will be done by a team of Italian-Chinese surgeons on a volunteer patient with a rare disease.

The operation is to take place in China and the first recipient is Valery Spiridonov, a Russian man with Werdnig-Hoffman disease which affects the muscles, according to Metro.

It is said that the controversial Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero will be one of the medical doctors who will carry out the operation. The Independent reports that the surgery might be done in 36 hours December 2017 which will cost $11 million dollars. Dr. Canavero will be teaming up with Chinese doctors.

The procedure will allegedly have Spiridinov and a donor have their heads cut off immediately in order to transplant Spiridinov's head in the donor's body. The recipient will then be placed in a 30-day comma and will be pumped with drugs to reduce the chances of the body rejecting the head. Ren Xiaoping, who is one of the doctors from the Chinese medical team said that they will only do the head transplant procedure if their research and examination are successful.

"A lot of media have been saying we will definitely attempt the surgery by 2017, but that's only if every step before that proceeds smoothly," Ren said in the report by Reuters. Additionally, the Chinese surgeon has refused to comment where the donor will be coming from.

"It's impossible to predict who the donor will be. There is only one technical constraint: the body should be of the same race as the recipient," Spiridonov explained.

Dr. Canavero told the outlet why the Chinese team wants to take part in the surgery.

"China wants to do it because they want to win the Nobel prize. They want to prove themselves [as] a scientific powerhouse. So it's the new space race," Canavero explained.

Spiridonov who is a computer scientist is impatient to get on with the procedure. He feels that it is something he has been prepared to do all his life. In the report by Discovery News, which cites Central European News as the source, he jokingly said that if the operation were to be successful, the first he will want to do is to go on a vacation.

"But on a serious note, this operation is aimed at restoring independence of severely disabled people. Once I get it back I'll see what the life of a healthier person looks like," Spiridonov said.