World's first human head transplant has successfully completed

The world's first human head transplant has been carried out on a corpse in China.

The transplant was successfully performed in a groundbreaking 18-hour operation  - proving it’s possible to reconnect the spine, nerves and blood vessels, Independent.ie reports.

Italian Professor Sergio Canavero, director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group, said that a team at Harbin Medical University carried out the procedure.

He said an operation on a live human will take place "imminently", the Telegraph reported this morning.

The team in China who carried out the operation had last year successfully grafted a head onto the body of a monkey.

"The first human transplant on human cadavers has been done. A full head swap between brain dead organ donors is the next stage,” Professor Canavero said.

"And that is the final step for the formal head transplant for a medical condition which is imminent.”