'Groundbreaking': scientists develop patch that can repair damaged hearts [View all]
Cells taken from blood and ‘reprogrammed’ into heart muscle cells may help patients with heart failure
Nicola Davis Science correspondent
Wed 29 Jan 2025 11.00 EST
Damaged hearts can literally be patched up to help them work, say researchers, in what has been hailed as a groundbreaking development for people with advanced heart failure.
According to a recent study, heart failure affects more than 64 million people worldwide, with causes including heart attacks, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.
For heart transplants there is a shortage of available organs, while artificial heart pumps are expensive and come with a high rate of complications.
Now scientists believe they have made a breakthrough by creating implantable patches composed of beating heart muscle that can help the organ contract.
Prof Ingo Kutschka, the co-author of the work from University Medical Center Göttingen in Germany, said: “We now have, for the first time, a laboratory grown biological transplant available, which has the potential to stabilise and strengthen the heart muscle.”
More at https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jan/29/scientists-develop-patch-repair-damage-heart-failure?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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