Some heart failure patients with artificial hearts have been able to regenerate heart muscle, potentially paving the way for future heart failure treatment options, according to a study published Nov. 21 in Circulation.
Researchers at Tuscon-based University of Arizona studied heart tissue from patients with artificial hearts, donated by researchers from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, to assess whether heart muscles can regenerate, a Dec. 20 news release from the University of Arizona said.
Here are three notes from the study:
- The study was led by Hesham Sadek, MD, PhD, director of the Sarver Heart Center and chief of the division of cardiology in the department of medicine at University of Arizona's College of Medicine—Tucson. Dr. Sadek's previous research led him to hypothesize that the heart's inability to rest impedes muscle regeneration and that allowing the heart to rest, by the use of an artificial heart, would promote heart muscle regeneration and healing.
"If you’re playing soccer and you tear a muscle, you need to rest it and it heals," he said in the release. "When a heart muscle is injured, it doesn't grow back. We have nothing to reverse heart muscle loss." - Researchers found that patients with artificial hearts regenerated muscle cells at more than six times the rate of healthy hearts.
"It solidifies the notion that there is an intrinsic capacity of the human heart to regenerate," Dr. Sadek said of the study's findings. - Only 25% of heart failure patients "respond" to artificial hearts, the news release said. Dr. Sadek is now focusing on how to make all patients "responders."
"The exciting part now is to determine how we can make everyone a responder, because if you can, you can essentially cure heart failure," he said.
Read the full study here.