Is a head transplant possible?

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The world's first human head transplant has been carried out on a cadaver in China, according to an Italian doctor who claims he and his team from Harbin medical university in northeast China, are now ready to perform the procedure on the living.

The news that shocked the world lately when Italian doctor Sergio Canavero announced the completion of the world's first human head transplant between two cadavers.

Despite the sheer amount of media requests, Chinese doctor and Canavero’s partner Ren Xiaoping has kept himself busy in the laboratory. His team carried out spinal cord restoration on a mouse, which is a key step for head transplants.

Italian doctor Sergio Canavero claims the completion of the world's first human head transplant between two cadavers. / Doctor Ren Xiaoping's team via CGTN

Despite the sheer amount of media requests, Chinese doctor and Canavero’s partner Ren Xiaoping has kept himself busy in the laboratory. /CGTN Photo

"A week after the operation, the body functions of the mouse are recovering. We've done the same tests on bigger mice and dogs," Ren told CGTN.

The strong winning point for Ren is the application of a cell fusion agent called polyethylene glycol. He believes this particular agent is effective in repairing nerves. During an 18-hour procedure in Harbin last November, Ren and his team reconnected the spinal cord and blood vessels of the head of one cadaver with those on another.

This operation gave Ren and his Italian partner the confidence to try it on a living person in the future.

The strong winning point for Doctor Ren Xiaoping is the application of a cell fusion agent called polyethylene glycol. /CGTN Photo

Doctor Ren Xiaoping believes this particular agent is effective in repairing nerves. /CGTN Photo

Ren also believes that a head transplant is an ideal solution for patients who were paralyzed after car accidents, falling and so on.

Experts haven't seen any better alternative in the world of medical science for decades. And his job on hand is to refine the techniques and to make the transition from animals to humans.

During an 18-hour procedure in Harbin last November, Dr. Ren and his team reconnected the spinal cord and blood vessels of the head of one cadaver with those on another. /CGTN Photo

Even as the results of the experiment were published in a medical journal last week, Ren said there is still a long way to go before the procedure can be performed clinically.

Moreover, the idea of a head transplant has met with criticism from many people in the medical community both at home and abroad. Most of them are saying the surgery simply cannot be done medically – and even if it could, it is still an ethical issue.

The idea of a head transplant has met with criticism from people in the medical community both at home and abroad due to ethical concerns. /CGTN Photo

Ren pressed hard on continuing the project, he told CGTN that every progress we've made in the medical world came with criticisms and doubts. We have seen the same problems with kidney and heart transplants in the past. We appreciate different opinions and criticisms. I think, as a doctor, what really matters is to save people's lives.

Doctor Ren Xiaoping says every progress made in the medical world came with criticisms and doubts., but as a doctor, what really matters is to save people's lives. /CGTN Photo

Ren could not tell when and where a head transplant on living humans will be conducted. But what's certain is that such a surgery – if it happens – will be groundbreaking.