'World First' Shows Heart Can Recover, Says British Heart Foundation

Main Category: Heart Disease
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 14 Jul 2009 - 5:00 PST

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In response to the publication of the story of heart transplant patient Hannah Clark in the Lancet , Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), described the operation as "an exciting and important event".

He said: "Cardiologists have long wondered whether a heart which is failing because of cardiomyopathy might be able to recover if rested.

"This seems to be exactly what has happened in Hannah's case in which the donor heart allowed her own heart to take a rest and recover. This is an exciting discovery since it proves that, in some instances, a weakened heart has the capacity to recover if it can be helped"

"This breakthrough provides a great boost to ongoing efforts to perfect a mechanical heart, called a 'ventricular assist device', that can be used temporarily to take over the work of a weak heart while it recovers.

"This is a great example of how a pioneering and novel approach to a medical problem can lead to surprising results that tell us a lot about how some heart diseases progress. It also opens the way for new research on just how damaged hearts manage to recover, which in turn may lead to new treatments for heart failure."

Source
The British Heart Foundation

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