A teenage girl has become the first UK patient to receive a dissolvable implant designed to close a hole in her heart roughly the size of a 10 pence piece.
Lillie Yale, a 14-year-old from Warrington, had previously faced the prospect of a permanent metal device, which could have disrupted her dream of becoming a professional rugby player.
Instead, the biodegradable device will serve as a scaffold, allowing Lillie’s heart to repair itself over coming months and years before fully dissolving and leaving no trace behind.
The operation was carried out in June by surgical experts at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool.
The hospital secured a special licence from the medicines regulator to use Memosorb on Lillie.
Source: The Independent, 28 August 2026
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