In 2017, the head of a Russian programmer will be transplanted to another body

    In February 2015, a doctor, Sergio Canavero, published an article in the International Journal of Neurosurgery on a surgical operation to transplant a person’s head onto a donor’s body under hypothermic conditions. Thirty-year-old programmer from Russia Valery Spiridonov agrees to become the first person to undergo this operation. Valery suffers from spinal muscle atrophy, now he is talking on Skype with Canavero and is preparing for a possible operation.

    In an interview with the Daily Mail, Valery said that relatives support him, and that he himself has long been studying the issue of transplanting his head to another body.

    “Am I scared?” Of course I'm scared. But this is not only scary, but also very interesting. But you need to understand that I don’t have that much choice. If I do not take this chance, my fate will be very sad. Every year it gets worse for me, ”says Valery.

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    Italian doctor told CNN that he had already received many letters from those wishing to take part in the experiment, but the first patients would be people suffering from muscular dystrophy.

    imageThe cost of the 36-hour operation will be £ 7.5 million. The donor of the body will be a person whose brain has died, but the body itself is healthy. For the operation, the patient’s and donor’s bodies will be cooled to 15 degrees in order to reduce the risk of death from a lack of oxygen and at the same time protect organs from changes as a result of exposure to low temperature. Tissues and blood vessels around the neck will be dissected, heads will be attached to the bodies using special tubes, and then the surgeon will cut the spinal cord of both people using an ultra-thin blade. The recipient’s head will be transplanted onto the donor’s body and the spinal cord will be connected using polyethylene glycol, which acts on the substance of the spinal cord in a certain way - this is compared to how spaghetti stick together during cooking. Then it remains only to restore blood circulation, stitch muscles and wait three to four weeks,

    In addition to the preparation itself for the operation, the doctor has to solve a number of problems, including choosing a state that will take on such responsibility and allow for a head transplant on its territory.

    Surgeons in the 20th century already tried to transplant their heads. In the 1950s, a surgeon from the USSR “created” twenty animals with two heads, each of which lived no more than six days. The monkey, whose head was transplanted to another in 1970 in the USA, lived for more than a week. Canavero is confident that the technologies available today and the methods developed by himself will make it possible to achieve success in this experiment.

    It is hoped that the operation will help Valery get on his feet.

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