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Surgeons transplant heart that had stopped beating
24 October 2014 Last updated at 12:00
By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website
Surgeons in Australia say they have performed the first heart transplant using a "dead heart".
Donor hearts from adults usually come from people who are confirmed as brain dead but with a heart still beating.
A team at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney revived and then transplanted hearts that had stopped beating for up to 20 minutes.
The first patient who received a heart said she felt a decade younger and was now a "different person".
Hearts are the only organ that is not used after the heart has stopped beating - known as donation after circulatory death.
Beating hearts are normally taken from brain-dead people, kept on ice for around four hours and then transplanted to patients.
BBC News - Surgeons transplant heart that had stopped beating
24 October 2014 Last updated at 12:00
By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website
Surgeons in Australia say they have performed the first heart transplant using a "dead heart".
Donor hearts from adults usually come from people who are confirmed as brain dead but with a heart still beating.
A team at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney revived and then transplanted hearts that had stopped beating for up to 20 minutes.
The first patient who received a heart said she felt a decade younger and was now a "different person".
Hearts are the only organ that is not used after the heart has stopped beating - known as donation after circulatory death.
Beating hearts are normally taken from brain-dead people, kept on ice for around four hours and then transplanted to patients.
BBC News - Surgeons transplant heart that had stopped beating
