Heart Attack Recovery And Repair

Posted on September 27th, 2007 by admin

The usual treatment for a patient after having a heart attack is to help to recover normal blood flow to the heart. This is to prevent further damage to the heart muscle and reduce the risk of recurring attack in the future.

But there is nothing a doctor can do to repair the damaged heart muscle tissue. During a heart attack, the muscle tissue becomes injured and damaged due to the lack of blood flow and oxygen. There is a permanent scar left in the heart tissue. Right now the treatments are focused on opening the blood vessels so that blood can flow normally to the heart again. Nothing can be done to repair the scar.

Scientists are now working on a new treatment using adult bone marrow stem cells, which they believe can actually repair the permanent scar left in the heart tissue. Besides reducing the amount of scar, the new treatment is also focusing on improving the function of the heart. With this new treatment, scientists hope that they can help patients to live longer and more productive lives after a heart attack.

Pre-clinical work that uses adult stem cells has been done in animals and it proves to be very effective in repairing the damage of heart tissue due to a heart attack. The research showed that when adult stem cells were injected into the heart muscle, the stem cells grafted themselves onto the damaged heart tissue and patched up the scar, restoring the heart function to its original condition in just two months. The scar in the heart tissue was reduced by 50 to 75%. No other treatment can reduce scar tissue to that extent.