The first human head transplant could take place in just two years, according to Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero, from the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group. He claims the procedure to graft a living person’s head on to a donor body will soon be ready. The breakthrough surgery is being pioneered to help extend the lives of people who have suffered degeneration of the muscles and nerves or those who have advanced cancer.

Mr. Canavero published a paper on the technique he would use in the Surgical Neurology International journal in February 2015. After the surgery, the person would be put into a coma for around four weeks to prevent them moving while they heal.                Mr. Canavero said he would expect the patient to be able to move and feel their face when they awoke, they would speak with the same voice and they should be able to walk within a year.

The first successful head transplant - involving moving the head of one monkey on to another was carried out in 1970 at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, US.

The monkey lived for nine days, but its immune system rejected the head.