Canavero or Cadavero? A month ahead of the originally scheduled first human head transplant, the procedure was performed on a cadaver in China.

Scientists claimed that they have successfully performed the first human head transplant on a corpse.

It was back in April when Edgy Labs published a story about the plans of Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero to perform the first human head transplant (you can read the story here). It all sounded surreal then, but the ‘mad doctor’ Canavero was nothing but serious with his pronouncements. In fact, he had already found a volunteer in Valery Spiridonov, a Russian man who’s suffering from Werdnig-Hoffmann Disease. That, of course, has changed since.

“The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done.”

However, less than a month before Canavero’s originally scheduled head transplant operation, a group of Chinese Scientists led by Dr. Xiaoping Ren allegedly performed the procedure successfully on a human cadaver.

According to Canavero, the success of the transplant only shows that his newly developed techniques for re-connecting the nerves, blood vessels, and spine to allow two bodies to live together are going to work. Canavero said in a press conference held this morning in Vienna:

“The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done. A full head swap between brain dead organ donors is the next stage. And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent.”

Canavero to Continue With the First Human Head Transplant on a Living Subject

During the press conference, Canavero didn’t provide any substantial evidence to support his claims. However, he assured everyone present during the announcement that the study’s paper, which will include the timeframe of the live transplant, will be released within the next few days.

Canavero, who’s the Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, also cited that Ren and his team from the Harbin Medical University in China took 18 hours to accomplish the crucial operation.

“For too long nature has dictated her rules to us. We’re born, we grow, we age and we die. For millions of years humans has evolved and 110 billion humans have died in the process. That’s genocide on a mass scale.

It will change everything. It will change you at every level. The first human head transplant, in the human mode, has been realized. The surgery lasted 18 hours. The paper will be released in a few days. Everyone said it was impossible, but the surgery was successful,” Canavero went on to say.

When asked if the first head transplant procedure would go worldwide after the test in China, Canavero said:

“Given the amount of mean criticism we received I don’t think we should go international. For instance, if you still stick to the Frankenstein schtick, which doesn’t make sense, then no.”

The surgeon said that the next step after the success of the test in China is to perform the full head swap between brain dead organ patients.

“And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent.”

Despite Canavero’s claims, the medical community has looked down at his techniques with horror. Other medical scientists suggest that volunteer patients might suffer something ‘a lot worse than death’ after the procedure has been done.

What are your thoughts regarding Canavero’s first human head transplant? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!