Doctor claims successful head transplant performed on monkey

A photo of a monkey with visible stitches on its neck has been making its rounds online, along with a doctor's claims that his team has taken another step closer to realising their dream of carrying out a human head transplant.

Dr Sergio Canevero, the Italian surgeon who announced his plans to perform human head transplants in 2013, said that his counterpart in China has recently performed a successful surgery on a monkey.

According to New Scientist, Professor Ren Xiaoping from Harbin Medical University and his team restored the blood supply between the head and the new body, but did not attempt to connect the spinal cord.

Dr Canevero elaborated: "The monkey fully survived the procedure without any neurological injury of whatever kind," as the detached head had been cooled to -15 degree Celsius.

The primate was reportedly kept alive for only 20 hours for ethical reasons.

However, New Scientist reported that the surgeons' claims have not been verified and and their findings have yet to appear in a journal that has been reviewed by the medical community.

The procedure repeats the work of US neurosurgeon Robert White, who attempted the world's first head transplant on a monkey in 1970. It died several days after the procedure.

Meanwhile, Professor Ren said in a statement to Vice: "The first studies on human cadavers have already begun in China and will be expanded shortly."

This may lead to the world's first-ever human head transplant which a terminally-ill man has already volunteered to undergo.

31-year-old computer scientist Valery Spiridonov suffers from a rare, severe disease called Werdnig-Hoffman disease, which causes one's muscles to waste away.

He told Central European News: "This operation is aimed at restoring (the) independence of severely disabled people. Once I get it back I'll see what the life of a healthier person looks like."

In a Wall Street Journal report, Professor Ren said that head transplants will help those with "intact brains but broken bodies, such as people with spinal-cord injuries, cancer and muscle-wasting diseases."

Last year, Dr Canevero travelled to the United States to try to garner support and funding for his controversial surgery, but was met with skepticism from his peers.

He said that he hopes to perform the procedure by the end of 2017 and estimates that it will take about 36 hours, require a team of 150 doctors and nurses and cost US$100 million.

minlee@sph.com.sg