Stem cells ‘could repair heart muscle’

Doctors are hoping stem cells from patients’ bone marrow will help repair damaged hearts after coronary bypass surgery.

The trial, which will take place at the University of Bristol and is funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), hopes to establish an ethically-sound method of restoring full heart function after a major heart attack.

At present scarred heart tissue damaged by a lack of oxygen in a heart attack remains permanently damaged and, although full blood flow to the heart can be improved, access is never fully restored. This increases the risk of further heart attacks.

According to the BHF, in three to six months after surgery, 20 per cent of patients develop a thinning of the walls of the heart, which in its most extreme form can lead to congestive heart failure.

The Bristol trial hopes to use stem cells to prevent the scars from forming, preventing impaired heart contraction.

Explaining the aim of the trial, consultant cardiac surgeon Dr Raimondo Ascione said: “Current treatments aim to keep the patient alive with a heart that is working less efficiently than before the heart attack. Cardiac stem cell therapy aims to repair the damaged heart as it has the potential to replace the damaged tissue.”

Neither patients nor surgeons participating in the trial will know whether or not the substance used is stem cells or a placebo, allowing them to “prove whether or not the treatment is effective”.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of the BHF, said: “We hope that this exciting Bristol project will provide information taking us a step nearer to the day when stem cells can be used routinely to help repair damaged hearts.”