LONDON: A team of British surgeons re-plumbed a woman's back-to-front heart in a dramatic 30-minute operation last night.

Anita Gurung, 28, was totally paralysed by a catastrophic stroke last year while on her way to work. Although she regained movement in her arms and legs after several days, scans showed that major veins bringing blood back to the heart from the rest of her body were connected to the wrong pumping chambers.

Without surgery to correct the problem, she could have suffered another, potentially fatal stroke at any time. Anita's veins were re-routed in an incredible operation at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.

Surgeons stopped her heart with the same drug used on Death Row prisoners, then drained the blood from her body.

With her head packed on ice, they had just 30 minutes to re-plumb her heart before she would suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen.

Professor Stephen Westaby, who led the operation, said despite the pressure he had been confident of success. "Although this is a time dependent procedure, there is no need to rush it. The important thing is that what we do, we do well," he said.

Blood returning to the heart from the body should be pumped to the lungs, where - as well as collecting oxygen - any air bubbles or debris are filtered out.

But because of Anita's plumbing problem, some of her blood was bypassing the lungs. Unfiltered blood was reaching her brain where a clot caused the stroke. Professor Westaby said, "I have never seen this problem in 30 years of surgery. We were sure that one day she would suffer another stroke.

"It's a very dangerous situation where blood from the body can go straight to the brain without any filter." Anita's husband, Buddha, said his wife could now live the rest of her life without fear of another stroke.

"All of her family were concerned. But now, knowing the operation was successful and she is healing properly, we are all relieved. We don't need to think about the same thing happening again," he said.