Man with two hearts now has both sets of chromosomes which 'fascinated' doctors
Warning: This article contains graphic images
A man who survived a heart transplant now has two hearts beating in his body after medics attached a smaller, female heart to his old one.
As a result, the patient now has both sets of chromosomes, fascinating doctors.
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Suresh, 45, had been suffering from heart failure back in May 2017, but couldn't undergo a conventional single transplant due to his high lung pressure.
Instead, doctors decided to transplant a smaller female heart into his chest cavity - and connected it to his old heart.
Now, Suresh has two hearts beating in tandem in his ribcage, after what is thought to be the first operation of its kind in Asia.
After the successful operation in Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital, Coimbatore, India, medics admitted that the procedure had been 'hard and demanding.'
Dr Prasanth Vaijyanath said: "It was destiny that the patient received the heart from a female donor as it fit perfectly in the cavity, being smaller in size.
"The operation was also genetically fascinating because, now the man will not only have the XY chromosome that all men have, but also will have the XX chromosome heart."
He continued: "There are five connections between the two hearts.
"Two connections are meant to take in the pure blood while three are to take the impure blood while three are to take the impure blood out.
"The two connections placed between the left atriums of the two hearts ensures that blood can be shared.
"Connecting them with the beating heart was the hardest task and that made this operation very challenging."
Suresh's own heart only has ten percent function and sits next to the new one that does the majority of the work.
The healthy donor heart is working in tandem with the diseased one so that the two can successfully carry out the metabolic activities as one, according to Dr Vajyanath.
It's not clear whether Suresh's female heart has left him with any unusual side effects - though it wouldn't be out of the ordinary.
A few months ago, TikToker Cecilia-Joy Adamou (@thececiliajoy), from Surrey, had a heart transplant from a middle-aged man and was left with three 'super weird' side effects.
She started by pointing out that you can see her heart beating through her chest, before showing the bald patch where her hair never grew back after brain surgery.
She closed the video by explaining that her feet sadly don't move because of nerve damage.
After undergoing surgery both at six months old and two years old, Cecilia was able to enjoy a relatively normal childhood, but in April 2010, her heart deteriorated and she ended up suffering a cardiac arrest.
When her heart failed, Cecilia had to have a heart transplant.
Ever the optimist, though, she's pleased to share that the traumatic experience has at least left her with some amusing party tricks.
Topics: World News, Health
Ali Condon