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First head transplant on a corpse not successful

Dr. Xiaoping Ren (R) and a colleague carry out a head transplant on mice. (File photo)

A surgeon who is behind the world's first head transplant experiment has denied the success of the operation, which was carried out on a corpse. 

Professor Ren Xiaoping, 56, who is a Ph.D. supervisor and US-educated surgeon from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University in northwest China's Heilongjiang Province, explained what he and his team had completed was the 'first surgical model' for a human head transplant — not an operation.

The news came just days after Italian professor Sergio Canavero, the director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, claimed that Professor Ren and his team had successfully carried out the world's first human head transplant on a corpse during an 18-hour operation in China.

Professor Canavero had also claimed during a press conference in Vienna that a similar operation on a live human would take place "imminently," hinting that "imminently" meant before the end of 2017.

Professor Ren, however, has shot that notion down, too, saying he doesn't know when the procedure would happen and stressing that 'there is a long way to go.'

But he did say that his team had successfully conducted a head transplant experiment on a dog. Professor Ren and his team have also carried out a similar procedure on a mouse.

During a press conference at Harbin Medical University, Professor Ren announced that his team "recently had a significant scientific breakthrough: to complete the first surgical model for head transplant."

He said that the breakthrough that they made was finding a solution to help with the re-growth of the spine, which has long been a stumbling block for these types of operations — and presumably a huge plot hole in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.


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