Chinese patients are the first to be grafted

According to the neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero, the world's first graft surgery will be performed on a Chinese patient.

In the announcement on May 16, the Italian doctor said the technology and the team to perform the surgery were ready, the problem was only funding and moral barriers.

If everything is approved, he plans to have surgery for the first patient next year. He is also optimistic that patients can get up and walk within a year after surgery.

According to RT, Canavero is expected to launch his international debut in June at a neurosurgery conference in Maryland, USA, including doctors from Russia, China and South Korea.

Doctor Sergio Canavero's head-to-head transplant plan is drawing the attention of professionals and global people - (Photo: gbtimes.com).

"We are arranging a date to do a transplant in China. The Chinese team has been doing a cadaver test to improve this technology," Dr Canavero said.

He also said his first patient was Chinese, although he previously said the person was Valery Spiridonov - a Russian scientist paralyzed by a rare muscular disorder.

According to Canavero, the reason is that Spiridonov cannot accept the donation in China for biological and moral reasons.

He also acknowledged that head graft surgery is at high risk, but believes that the success of the operation lies in both the donor and recipient cooling techniques with temperatures down to 12 degrees Celsius so that the cells do not die because lack of oxygen during transplantation.

After being grafted, the patient will be kept in a coma for weeks "to limit the movement of the newly transplanted neck, while the electrodes will stimulate the spinal cord to enhance connection with the head. new".

Dr. Sergio Canavero - (Photo: RT).

When awakened, the patient can move and speak immediately, and after intensive physical therapy, the patient can travel within 1 year afterwards.

Canavero said in January this year, his Chinese partner, Xiaoping Ren, had successfully performed a monkey transplant. According to the doctor, the monkey survived the transplant without suffering any nerve damage within 20 hours before being killed for moral reasons.

However, this surgery is not considered a "complete" head transplant when the surgical team does not seek to connect the spinal cord and the animal completely paralyzed.