Congratulations, aorta, you're officially an organ!

A computer visualisation of the aorta, formerly regarded as part of the cardiovascular system, but now recognised in the EU and the US as an organ on its own. — dpa

The aorta – the body’s main artery – is being given a special honour of the medical world: recognition as an independent human organ.

”This is a big step,” says Germany's Freiburg University Hospital Cardiovascular Surgery department medical director Professor Dr Martin Czerny.