---
title: "This man is planning to receive a human head transplant in 2017"
description: "Surgeon Dr. Sergio Canavero has scheduled the world's first head transplant for December 2017."
date: "2015-09-11"
modified: "2015-09-12"
authors:
  - name: "Kif Leswing"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kif_leswing"
url: "https://futurism.com/this-man-is-planning-to-receive-a-human-head-transplant-in-2016"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Prosthetics and Devices"
---

# This man is planning to receive a human head transplant in 2017

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/headtransplant.jpg>)

- Canavero calls the procedure Head Anatomosis Venture. It will be performed on Valery Spiridonov, who was diagnosed with a muscle-wasting condition called Werdnig-Hoffman disease.
- Spiridonov knows that there's huge risks involved. After all, many organ transplants are ultimately rejected and this procedure is significantly more complicated. It might better be called a body transplant: Spiridonov's head will cooled for the 36-hour procedure, which will attempt to attach the head to a donor body. There are also questions about whether the procedure is even possible.
- Canavero is part of Italy's Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, and he compares the procedure to heading to the moon.