Italian doctor plans human head transplant

London: A controversial Italian neurosurgeon who wants to carry out the first human head transplant has outlined plans to conduct ‘Frankenstein’ experiments to reanimate human corpses to test his technique.

Dr Sergio Canavero, director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, and his collaborators believe that they may be able to conduct the first human head transplant next year.

They have outlined plans to test whether it is possible to reconnect the spinal cord of a head to another body with tests that will stimulate the nervous system in fresh human corpses with electrical pulses, the Daily Mail reported.

The aim of the surgery is to first cut the spinal cord and then repair it before using electrical or magnetic stimulation to ‘reanimate’ the nerves and even movement in the corpse.

Valery Spiridonov has offered to be the first to undergo the controversial procedure. Spiridonov who suffers from a genetic disorder that means he is wheelchair bound and physically unable to take care of himself without constant assistance.  However, the Russian has revealed that his girlfriend is opposed to him having the operation, the Mail reported.

In an article for the Surgical Neurology International, Dr Canavero and his colleague in South Korea and China drew parallels to the infamous story of Frankenstein, where electricity is used to reanimate the fictional monster.

The idea has been criticised widely saying that Dr Canavero’s plans are ‘pure fantasy’. The doctor has been compared to the fictional gothic-horror character Dr Frankenstein and Arthur Caplan, the director of medical ethics at New York University’s Langone Medical Centre, has described Dr Canavero as “nuts”.

The doctor, however, pointed to experiments conducted in the 1800s using the corpses of criminals who had been hung as proof such tests could be successful.