Schoolgirl Chloe is youngest in Europe to be given artificial heart

A 13-year-old from Worcester has become the first child in Britain and the youngest person in Europe to be given an artificial heart.

Chloe Narbonne, then aged 12, had the life-saving implant last May at London's Royal Brompton Hospital to keep her alive until a human heart was available for donation weeks later.

The NHS said the complex nine-hour operation on Chloe, who is now on her fourth heart, involved 30 staff.

The teenager told The Guardian: "I feel well, like my normal self, but not quite my normal self, not after what I've been through.

"I guess the artificial heart was my lifesaver; it's what kept me alive until I got another heart."

The newspaper reported that Chloe was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when she was four weeks old, and her heart failed when she was 11 and still at primary school.