U.K. surgeons are pioneering a new use for bovine heart tissue in humans, including a recent operation that saved the life of a woman diagnosed with a rare liver cancer initially deemed inoperable. Surgeons used the tissue to patch the patient's inferior vena cava, a portion of which was removed along with part of the liver. Bovine tissue, which is also used in heart surgery, is similar in texture and flexibility to the human tissue it replaces and less likely than synthetic alternatives to be associated with infection, says surgeon Hassan Malik.