Indian man ends up with two beating hearts after surgery

A 56-year-old man in India has undergone life-saving cardiac surgery - but ended up with two beating hearts inside his chest.

The man, who suffered from end-stage heart failure, had been admitted to hospital in Hyderabad, for a heart transplant.

However, when the heart of a 17-year-old donor became available on February 10, surgeons realised that it was too small for the man's chest.

"The donor heart was of normal fist-size. The recipient's heart was the size of a small football," Dr A.G. Krishna Gokhale said.

The doctors decided to keep the old heart rather than replace it with the much smaller heart.

Instead of a transplant, the man received a new heart to add to his existing one. The new heart has been connected to the diseased heart, which continues to be in its place. Both the hearts beat complementing each other.

"The surgery, heterotopic or piggyback heart transplant, is rare and worldwide only about 150 such procedures have ever been reported," the doctor added.

The patient has recovered well and doctors say he will have to keep a close watch on his hearts for complications.