Last updated 16 November 2011
Scientists have shown it is possible to treat patients with heart failure by using their own stem cells to repair damaged areas of heart tissue.A research team at the University of Louisville in the US have tested the procedure on 16 patients, all of whom had heart failure following a previous heart attack. An additional seven patients received standard care.
Patients' cardiac stem cells (CSCs) were extracted during bypass surgery, grown in the laboratory over a number of months, and injected back into the damaged areas of the heart.
The researchers found that the heart's pumping efficiency, or 'ejection fraction', had improved by more than 12 per cent after one year in eight of the patients.
Some degree of improvement was seen in all patients whose progress was followed.
Researcher Professor Roberto Bolli, whose findings are published in the Lancet medical journal, said: 'While we do not yet know why the improvement occurs, we have no doubt now that ejection fraction increased and scarring decreased.
'If these results hold up in future studies, I believe this could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime.'
Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said that many patients are left with a badly damaged heart following a heart attack.
Commenting on the latest research, he said: 'It is too early to tell if this will prove to be a useful treatment for heart failure.'
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