Man with fatal medical condition wants a head transplant

Mr. Spiridonov and Dr. Canavaro

Man with a fatal medical condition has spoken exclusively to Mail online about how he is set to become the first person to undergo a head transplant and hopes it could be as soon as next year.

Valery Spiridonov says he is ready to put his trust in controversial surgeon Dr. Sergio Canavaro who claims he can cut off his head and attach it to a healthy body.

As a long life sufferer of the rare genetic Werdnig-Hoffman muscle wasting disease, he says he want the change of a new body before he dies.

Dr. Canavaro and Mr. Spiridonov have talked via skype though the haven't met yet and the doctor has not reviewed his medical records. The Italian told CNN he has received many e-mails and letters from people seeking the procedure but he insists the first patients will be people suffering from a muscle wasting disease.

Dr. Canavaro ha named the procedure HEAVEN, which is an acronym for Head Anastomosis Venture.

Anastomosis involves the the surgical connecting of two parts. He insists all the necessary techniques already exist to transplant a head onto a donor body.

The cost of the 36-hour operation, which could only be performed in the one of the world's most advanced operating theatres, has been at 7.5million euros. The new body would come from a transplant donor who is brain dead but otherwise healthy.

Both donor and patient would have their head severed from their spinal cord at the same time, using an ultra-sharp blade to give a clean cut. The patient's head would then be placed onto the donor's body and attached using what Canavaro calls his 'magic ingredient' - glue-like substance called poltethylene glycol - to infuse the two ends of the spinal cords together.

The muscle and body supply would be stitched up, before the patient is put into a coma for four weeks to stop them from moving while the head and body heal together. When they wake the patient should be able to move, feel their body and even speak with the same voice.

Powerful immuno-suppressant drugs should stop the new body from being rejected.

Critics say Dr. Canavaro has simplified the difficulties involved in attaching the spinal cord. The Italian doctor has also so far failed to secure funding for the staff of 150 doctors and nurses he believes are required to complete the procedure.

However, the Italian is confident he can successfully transplant a head on to another body. And if successful, his pioneering procedure could give new hope to thousands of paralysed and disabled people. Mr. Spiridonov was diagnosed with the rare muscle-wasting condition, Werdnig-Hoffman disease, at the age of one.

Tragically, the disease progresses everyday.

Mr. Spiridonov contacted the controversial doctor, who is based at the at the University of Turin in Italy, after reading about his ambitious medical claims.