WHAT ARE THE RISKS?

THE surgery is not suitable for everyone, for instance some patients who’ve had varicose vein surgery (as their great saphenous vein, from which the graft is harvested, will have already been removed).

THERE is a small risk that the new valve may only work for a short time before it breaks because of the strain of handling large volumes of blood. Professor Gerry Stansby, a consultant vascular surgeon at Newcastle-upon-Tyne NHS Hospitals Trust, says: ‘Ideally, we need bigger numbers in a larger study involving more centres before this can be used more widely.

‘But I am impressed and excited by these results. It does offer patients hope.’