Stem-cell trial for heart attack victims

Heart attack victims are to be injected with stem cells from their own bone marrow in a groundbreaking trial which could improve patient survival rates.

Doctors hope the injections will repair cell scarring caused during heart attacks, giving patients an improved quality of life.

Britain has one of the worst heart attack rates in the world, with someone having a heart attack every two minutes. Heart attacks are responsible for one in four deaths in men and one in six deaths in women.

During a heart attack, cells in part of the heart die, leaving areas of scarring. The scarred areas are less effective at pumping blood, which can lead to patients suffering heart failure.

Current techniques can improve blood flow around the heart, but cannot repair the scarred tissue. But now a team from the Bristol Heart Institute will undertake a revolutionary trial, wherepatients will be injected with stem cells from their bone marrow. Sixty patients will receive the treatment from August.

Raimondo Ascione, the consultant cardiac surgeon leading the team, said: "If this trial is successful, it could be a major breakthrough. It could allow heart attack patients to have a good quality of life.

"We have elected to use a very promising stem-cell type selected from the patient's own bone marrow. This approach ensures no risk of rejection or infection. It also gets around the ethical issues that would result from use of stem cells from embryonic or foetal tissue."