Injection-based treatment ‘could limit damage from heart attacks’

A new international study has devised an injection-based treatment method that could help to limit the damage done to the body by heart attacks and strokes.

The University of Leicester-led research has isolated an enzyme in the blood which plays a key role in the damaging inflammatory tissue response that occurs when bodily tissue or organs are resupplied with blood following ischaemia.

By using an antibody injection to neutralise this enzyme among animal test subjects, it was found that the tissue and organ destruction following ischaemic events such as heart attacks can be disrupted, resulting in better outcomes.

Professor Wilhelm Schwaeble of the University of Leicester, who initiated the research, noted that this technique could also be effective in transplant surgery, or any situations in which blood flow disruption threatens tissue viability.

Responding to the news, British Heart Foundation medical director Professor Peter Weissberg said this technique could one day be of use to patients.

However, he added: "More research is needed to confirm the findings and we are still a long way off an injection or drug treatment from this research."