Or, in rare cases, a kidney may be grafted from a living related donor more than 18 years of age. Kidneys can be stored for up to 36 hours. Washkansky died - and so did others in the flurry of operations which followed the South African initiative. In fact the outcome was so dismal that many surgeons abandoned heart transplantation. The operation was revived in Britain in 1979 - first at Papworth Hospital, near Cambridge, then a year later at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex.
Today there are nine UK hospitals doing heart transplants.
The combined operation was pioneered at Stanford University in California in 1982 and the first successful such operation in the UK was carried out at Papworth in 1984. Hearts and lungs are taken form young multi organ donors who remain on ventilators until the retrieval operation. The organs are used ideally within four to six hours. The liver weighing around 3lbs in the adult male is the largest and most versatile of the human organs. It is often referred to as the body's metabolic centre because of its vital role in the conversion and distribution of energy.