Italian doc says world's first human head transplant 'imminent'

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Fri, 17 Nov 2017 - 02:46 GMT

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Fri, 17 Nov 2017 - 02:46 GMT

Italian doctor Sergio Canavero talks with a disabled patient - Screenshot from Reuters's video

Italian doctor Sergio Canavero talks with a disabled patient - Screenshot from Reuters's video

WASHINGTON- 17 November 2017: An Italian doctor announced Friday that the world’s first human head transplant was "imminent" and that it would take place in China because his efforts to get backing for the project were being ignored by medical communities and scientists in the United States and Europe, USA Today reported.

"The Americans did not understand," Sergio Canavero said in a press conference in Vienna, Austria. He was discussing a surgery that if it works will be an audacious and near-miraculous therapy that defies decades of scientific wisdom and raises profound ethical questions.

Canavero said the Chinese government and Ren Xiaoping, a Chinese doctor with whom he is partnering to perform the procedure, would confirm the surgery's date "within days." Canavero previously vowed to hold it before the end of the year.

"Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to restore China to greatness. He wants to make it the sole superpower in the world. I believe he is doing it," said Canavero.

Medical experts said the operation would not be permitted in the U.S. and Europe.

When, two years ago, Canavero first announced he would attempt the surgery, Russian national Valery Spiridonov, 33, who suffers from a rare form of paralysis and muscle-wasting disease that will eventually kill him, volunteered for the procedure

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