Ostriches May Improve Heart Bypass Surgery

Japanese researchers have used arteries from the long necks of ostriches to perform successful bypass surgery in pigs, reports AFP. In a few years, they hope to duplicate the feat with humans, reports the Asahi Shimbun. The researchers used the arteries to "construct artificial pathways" in the pigs, and they might prove more efficient than current substitutes, especially in terms of clotting. "Ostriches are good as they provide a stable supply of narrow and long vessels," says a scientist with Japan's National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center. (More ostrich stories.)