A five-year-old baby boy with a serious heart problem has been saved by doctors in Turin with the help of a revolutionary new machine that kept his blood pumping until a donor organ arrived, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

In addition to having a univentricular heart, the baby also had a genetic anomaly that stopped the organ from working properly.

After two operations failed to stablize the situation, doctors at Turin's Regina Margherita hospital put the child on a new Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machine, EcmoLife.

The technology, produced by the Eurosets company in the province of Modena town of Medolla, can temporarily take over heart and lung functions, as well as providing advanced monitoring data.

The boy was kept alive in this way for eight days until a donor heart from Germany become available.

The organ was transplanted, even though there was a risk of it being rejected because the donor was of another blood group.

Fortunately, the new heart was accepted.

The child is continuing to have treatment in intensive care.