Monday, August 11, 2014

Heart disease: If this works what an incredible advance.

Pioneering new injection to cure heart failure without need for major surgery

The technique, which involves a simple injection, could aid the recovery of hundreds of thousands of heart failure patients - and could even consign heart transplants to history.


A pioneering new treatment that allows damaged hearts to recover without the need for major surgery is being trialled by one of Britain’s leading medical institutions.
The technique, which involves a simple injection, could aid the recovery of hundreds of thousands of heart failure patients. Heart transplants could even be consigned to history thanks to a trial by Imperial College, London, which aims to show for the first time that gene therapy could repair failing organs.
Almost 500,000 people in Britain suffer from heart failure, with hundreds of patients requiring new hearts. Around 200 transplants take place in Britain each year. But two out of 10 people will die awaiting an organ due to severe shortages of donors.
The trial involves researchers introducing a gene, created in a laboratory, into heart failure patients to boost the production of a key protein, which they believe will allow the muscle to recover.
Researchers say the treatment could offer a “viable alternative” to transplantation. The British Heart Foundation, which is funding the trial, said the discovery “offers genuine hope of an effective treatment in the near future”.

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