A leading Newcastle heart surgeon is hopeful that "cutting edge" new technology will mean more people in need of a life-saving heart transplant will be able to have one.
Freeman Hospital consultant Professor Stephen Clark heads up the heart and lung transplant team at the Freeman, and he was the surgeon leading the team which carried out a groundbreaking heart transplant over the winter. Newcastle-born cardiomyopathy patient Sanjana Kochhar was the first person to receive a heart that had been transported in an innovative "heartbox" - and Prof Clark hopes this technology could go on to save many more lives.
Prof Clark hopes the new invention will revolutionise care and the heart transplant process, which has previously relied on transporting lifesaving organs in what he said was effectively "a picnic box packed with ice".
