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 Martin Czerny from the Freiburg University Hospital in Germany. "Recognising the aorta as an organ puts it on a par with the heart, lungs and brain." The new organ status is valid in countries of the European Union as well as in the US, after it was defined in the guidelines for aortic surgery treatments of the European Association for Car