Surgeons fit dissolvable heart implant on teenage girl in UK first

Alder Hey Children's Hospital/Becci Yale/PA Wire

By Storm Newton, PA Media

A teenager has become the first person in the UK to have a dissolvable implant fitted to close a hole in her heart.

Lillie Yale, from Warrington, faced having a permanent metal device, which would have hindered her dream of becoming a professional rugby player.

However, the biodegradable implant will act as a scaffold for Lillie’s heart to heal itself over the coming months and years, before dissolving and leaving behind no trace.

The procedure was performed on the 14-year-old by surgeons at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool in June.

It is the first time the device, known as Memosorb, has been used on a patient with an atrial septal defect (ASD) in the UK.

Dr Salim Jivanji, consultant paediatric cardiologist at Alder Hey, told the Press Association: “The device looks very similar to a normal existing device that we have on the market.

“The difference being that it’s made out of a polymer.”