The Manipal Heart Foundation , Bangalore was the scene of a successful homograft in a patient suffering from Marfan’s  syndrome , which is a rare disorder affecting the blood vessels of the body. Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty explained that in this disease the blood vessels lose their tone gradually and begin to dilate. The aorta, which supplies blood to the whole body including the brain, is principally affected. The patient who was from Calcutta was seriously ill. She did have the option of a replacement with a synthetic valve and tube but the chances that there would be severe bleeding as a result was very high. The ideal alternative was human tissue or a homograft. And this became possible by a wonderful gesture of organ donation from the person who died in a road accident .all the damaged portions of the heart were replaced with the viable homograft ( valve and the aorta including the blood vessels to the brain). The great advantage of the homograft is that the patient would not require any anti-coagulant to prevent clot formation as would have been the case with a synthetic valve. However, even more important is the fact that a homograft comes virtually free thereby considerably pushing down costs.