Novel surgery
Twenty seven-year-old Tokihiro Masao recently walked out of the hospital after his surgeons removed his right ventricle and atrium. As heart transplants are forbidden in Japan, such an operation was the only option to save the patients life. Defending this novel technique, Shunji Sano from the Okayama University Medical Department believes that we do not necessarily need two ventricles and can live with just one. The left half of the heart continues to function normally with the help of a pace maker (New Scientist, Vol 151, No 2049 ).