World's first human head transplant successfully carried out

Valery Spiridinov agreed to be the first live patient to have a head transplant. The computer programmer Valery Spiridonov suffers from a muscle wasting disease

The world's first human head transplant has been carried out on a corpse in China - by scientists who say they are now ready to do it on a live patient.

Pioneering of the controversial procedure is being spearheaded by scientist Serio Canavero - who claims it will save the lives of terminally-ill patients.