The unit which serves Scotland is based in Glasgow Royal Infirmary

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde revealed last month that four of the 11 patients who had transplants in 2007 had died within 30 days.

Operations at the Scottish National Heart Transplant Unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary were stopped in December while experts looked into the deaths.

The review's findings will be submitted to the board in the next two weeks.

Conducted by a team of independent experts from other transplant centres in the UK, the review began on 8 January.

It included in-depth interviews with key members of the Glasgow transplant team and a thorough examination of patient records.

Following this work, the reviewers concluded that the Glasgow team could resume full services with immediate effect.

'Best practice'

Mr Andrew Murday, clinical director of cardiothoracic surgery for the west of Scotland, welcomed the decision.

He said: "I and the rest of the team at the Scottish National Heart Transplant Unit are delighted that surgery can now resume.

"Reviews of transplant centres are not uncommon, the most recent before our own being at Papworth Hospital [Cambridgeshire], nonetheless increases in the number of post-transplant deaths must be thoroughly investigated to reassure that best practice is being achieved.

"We have already made contact with those Scottish patients on our waiting list and made them aware of reviewers' conclusions."

Patients were transferred to a unit in Newcastle

While the review took place patients awaiting transplants in Scotland were transferred to the waiting list for the transplant unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

On average, about 13% of transplant patients in the UK die within 30 days. The figure stands at 36% in Scotland.

The Glasgow heart transplant unit opened in 1992 but was forced to close temporarily in 2000 because of a shortage of surgeons.

Surgery resumed in 2001 but two years later a review of its long-term viability was ordered.