Australian surgeons successfully transplant 'dead' hearts

Australian doctors said on Friday they have used hearts which had stopped beating in successful transplants, in what they said was an unprecedented move that could change the way organs are donated.

Until now, doctors have relied on using the still-beating hearts of donors who have been declared brain dead, often placing the recovered organs on ice and rushing them to recipients.

But Sydney's St. Vincent's Hospital and the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute have developed a technique which means hearts that had been still for 20 minutes can be resuscitated, kept beating and transplanted.