Cockroach inspires GBP1,500 heart created by Indian doctor Sujoy Guha

"A ground-breaking GBP1,500 artificial heart inspired by the anatomy of the cockroach could revolutionise human cardiac care, scientists in India believe. The development of a robust, affordable and safe synthetic heart remains one of the holy grails of biomedical engineering amid a shortage of donated organs and rising levels of heart disease. In Britain, critically ill adults wait an average of 103 days and children 143 days for a donated heart, according to the NHS. In India, heart disease will end more lives per year than all infectious illnesses combined, including diarrhoea, tuberculosis and malaria, by 2015, World Health Organisation figures suggest, as Western lifestyle diseases take a grip" - Times, London

Pioneering heart surgery saves man's life (Greece)

"Surgeons have, for the first time, used a combination of an artificial heart and stem cells to save the life of a dying man. Ioannis Manolopoulos was fitted with the mechanical pump because his heart was too weak to push blood around his body. Surgeons then injected his failing heart muscle with six million of his own stem cells in the hope that they would repair the damage. Speaking exclusively to Sky News, he said he owed the British and Greek surgeons his life. The team was led by British surgeon Professor Stephen Westaby, who has pioneered the use of mechanical pumps in patients suffering from heart failure"

Artificial heart unveiled

"An artificial heart, which perfectly replicates the human organ, has been unveiled, three decades after the first human transplant. Pumping, rippling and beating almost exactly like the real thing, the new artificial heart could save the lives of thousands of patients, many of whom die waiting for a donation. France's leading cardiac surgeon, Professor Alain Carpentier and engineers from the group that makes Airbus aircraft created the device. It's constructed from animal tissue; titanium and materials used in aeronautical technology and is covered in specially treated tissue to avoid rejection by the body's immune system" - Times Online