Chinese surgeon tackles head transplant critics in countdown to world first
Doctor says test run on corpses last week helped explore technical issues and results will be published soon
A Chinese surgeon aiming to perform the world’s first human head transplant in China has defended the controversial procedure, saying similar attacks were levelled at pioneering kidney transplants more than 60 years ago.
Dr Ren Xiaoping from Harbin Medical University told China National Radio on Saturday that many now routine operations were described as unethical when they were first performed.
“Our society is an open one and our job is to solve scientific and technological problems in our professional field,” Ren said.
“The head transplant is a solution for all clinically incurable diseases.”
Ren said he and Italian doctor Sergio Canavero rehearsed the procedure on two corpses, reconnecting the spinal cord and blood vessels of the head of one cadaver with those on the body of another in an 18-hour experiment last week.
The plan now is to perform the same procedure but to attach a disease-free head to the healthy body of a brain-dead patient.