UK-first heart implant keeps rugby dream alive

A teenage girl has become the first person in the UK to have a dissolvable implant fitted to close a hole in her heart that is around the size of a 10p piece.

Lillie Yale, from Warrington, faced having a permanent metal device, which would have hindered her dream of becoming a professional rugby player.

However, the biodegradable implant will act as a scaffold for Lillie's heart to heal itself over the coming months and years, before fully dissolving and leaving behind no trace.

The procedure was performed on the 14-year-old by surgeons at Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool in June.

It is the first time the device, known as Memosorb, has been used on a patient with an atrial septal defect (ASD) - a hole in the wall that divides the heart's two upper chambers. It is made of a material commonly used in dissolvable stitches.

Lillie's mother Becci Nichols, 38, said her daughter is "healing perfectly" and has since run a 5k, visited a theme park and returned to playing rugby.

Dr Salim Jivanji, consultant paediatric cardiologist, said the device looks "very similar" to a normal one already on the market.

He added that, with a traditional metal device, tissue would start lining the implant, while this device acts as a "scaffold".

"The body reacts to the structure of the device," Jivanji said.

He added: "It slowly covers it with the lining of the heart, and the polymer starts getting dissolved into carbon dioxide and water within the tissue and slowly disappears completely.

"Anywhere between six and 24 months the only thing you'll see is what looks like a normal septum with no hole in it."

Jivanji said Lillie would not be able to play rugby if she had a metal implant as it could be dislodged by heavy impact before her heart was fully healed.

There is also a risk of mechanical stress to a metal device.

Alder Hey secured a special licence from the medicines regulator to use it.

Lillie said was "really happy" with the operation, adding "it's amazing to know I was the first person in the UK to have this new type of implant".

"I'm enjoying doing the things I love and not having to worry about my heart," she said.

Ms Nichols said her daughter is "healing absolutely perfectly", adding "she's been doing loads".

She was told Lillie had ASD soon after she was born prematurely at 33 weeks.

Lillie had regular check-ups and no symptoms until January 2025, when tests revealed her heart had become enlarged on the right side.

Nichols said she was not too worried, as her own mother had discovered she had ASD when she was in her 40s.

"I knew what it meant when it said that her heart was enlarged, and I knew how serious it can be," said Nichols.

"It was only slightly enlarged, so I didn't worry too much but I knew it needed rectifying."

Doctors initially said they would fit an implant within two years, but Lillie's mother waned it sooner so her GCSEs were not interrupted.

It was only then Lillie was told she could not continue playing rugby if she had a traditional metal device in her heart.

Nichols praised the "kindness, compassion and dedication" of Jivanji and his team, saying they "went above and beyond" to allow Lillie to "continue with her normal life".

"Sometimes you can leave an appointment feeling like someone is simply doing their job, but every member of the interventional cardiology team and nurses on ward 1C who cared for Lillie made us feel that they genuinely wanted the very best for her and for our family," she said.

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