The first heart transplant from an organ that had ceased all electrical activity for 20 minutes was performed in the Hospital of Padua. It had happened in the past that transplants had been performed with hearts that had been 'stopped' for only a few minutes. But Italian law, in such cases, prescribes that cadaver harvesting can only take place when the heart has ceased activity for at least 20 minutes.

"As the first in the world, we have demonstrated that a heart that has ceased all electrical activity for 20 minutes can be used for a cardiac transplant," said Gino Gerosa, director of cardiac surgery in Padua, who led the team. "This extraordinary result could lead to a 30 percent increase in the number of transplants, in a relatively short period of time." .

The operation was performed last May 11, on a 46-year-old man with heart disease, who had already been operated on as a pediatric, and had been on the waiting list for a transplant for two years.