Damaged hearts repaired

Damaged hearts repaired

By Pat Hagan
In Chicago

Tests have produced good results

Scientists have perfected a way of repairing tissue damaged by scarring during a heart attack.

The technique involves using immature cells taken from muscles in the leg and making them into 'living patches' that can be grafted on to heart tissue.

Tests show that more than a year after the procedure, cells have not only grown into new heart-like tissue but restored the organ's pumping action.

The breakthrough could prevent the sometimes fatal decline in heart function that can follow a heart attack.

This is a very attractive option for patients

Professor Tomaz Siminiak

Professor Tomaz Siminiak, from the District Hospital in Poznan, Poland, said: "This is a very attractive option for patients.

"Transplantation of patients' own muscle cells to regenerate damaged hearts is potentially a very attractive approach.

"The cells are easily available and immuno-suppression to fight tissue rejection is not required."

Rejection problems

Cells donated from other patients are often rejected by the body's immune system.

The advantage of using a person¿s own cells - so-called autologous transplantation - is that the immune system will recognise them and allow them to flourish.

Heart attacks can kill off vast swaths of muscle vital to pumping blood effectively.

The scar tissue that is left behind can seriously damage the heart's effectiveness.

Researchers around the world have been exploring techniques for combating the problem. One possible solution is leg muscle grafts.

Laboratory studies show these kind of patches can grow and contract.

But there has been little evidence of what effect they have on the heart¿s pumping ability in the long-run.

Professor Siminiak and his team recruited ten patients to undergo the procedure - called autologous skeletal myoblast transplantation.

Each one had cells removed from the leg and 'patched' on to damaged areas of the heart.

The results, presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago, showed that after four to eight weeks, the damaged part of the heart wall was contracting much more efficiently.

A year later, it was still working well.

Dr Siminiak said:"The procedure is feasible and further research is justified to validate the technique."