Russian computer scientist Valery Spiridonov will undergo the world's first head transplant in December, 2017, CEN reports.

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Chinese surgeon Ren Xiaoping and Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero confirmed that they will likely perform the procedure at Harbin Medical University in China along with a Chinese-Italian team.Thirty-year-old Spiridonov, who has an incurable muscle-wasting condition called Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, was confirmed for the procedure earlier this year after volunteering for the project “When I realised that I could participate in something really big and important, I had no doubt left in my mind and started to work in this direction,” Spiridonov told CEN. “The only thing I feel is the sense of pleasant impatience, like I have been preparing for something important all my life and it is starting to happen,”Lasting up to 36 hours, the procedure involves removing the heads from the donor and patient and then transplanting Spiridonov’s head onto the donor body with glue and stitches. Spiridonov’s head and the donor’s body will be cooled during the procedure to extend the cells lifespan without oxygen.“According to Canavero’s calculations, if everything goes to plan, two years are needed to verify all scientific calculations and plan the procedure’s details,” Spiridonov said. “It isn’t a race. No doubt, the surgery will be done once the doctor and the experts are 99 percent sure of its success.”Spiridonov will be induced into a month-long coma post operation while a cocktail of drugs will help stop the transplanted parts rejecting each other. It is not yet publically known where the donor body will come from.Ren said the procedure will go only ahead on the scheduled date if research and calculations adhere to the project’s milestones."A lot of media have been saying we will definitely attempt the surgery by 2017, but that's only if every step before that proceeds smoothly," Ren told AFP

Jenna Pitcher is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter