STEM cell patches can fix heart failure by regenerating the muscle, tests show.
The treatment was found to increase the thickness of the heart wall, helping it to contract better to pump blood around the body.
Heart failure is common but deadly because it reduces the ability to pump blood around the body[/caption]
Its successful use in trials on monkeys and one human patient marks the first time doctors have been able to regrow human heart tissue.
Researcher Professor Ingo Kutschka said: “We observed the development of new heart muscle in a failing human heart for the first time.
“It shows that we are on the right track with the heart patch.”
But the team at the Göttingen University Medical Center in Germany were able to halt it by implanting collagen patches of 200million blank stem cells — which are capable of growing into any kind of tissue.
The scientists’ success means they have been given approval for a full-scale human trial.
Heart failure is common but deadly because it reduces the ability to pump blood around the body.
The muscle becomes weaker or stiffer over time, often as a result of damage from a heart attack or coronary artery disease.
As it gets more damaged, the heart is forced to work harder to keep blood pumping and more sections of become worn out and damaged until it is eventually fatal.
High blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat or a genetic condition may also trigger it.
The NHS estimates 920,000 people in the UK have heart failure and predicts cases will double to nearly 2million by 2040.
