Researchers from the University Clinic for Cardiac Surgery of the Medical University of Innsbruck have achieved a medical breakthrough. Inactive heart muscle cells were revived using shock wave therapy and simultaneous bypass surgery. A new device is expected to come onto the market in early 2025.
The lives of patients with chronic heart failure could suddenly improve in the future. A new bypass surgery including open heart shockwave therapy revitalizes inactive heart muscle cells and creates new blood vessels.
A medical innovation, as Michael Grimm, director of the University Clinic for Cardiac Surgery in Innsbruck, explains: “For the first time it is possible to improve the heart muscle substantially and sustainably.” His team, led by Johannes Holfeld, has now been able to prove this in a clinical study. On Thursday, the European Heart Journal published research into the groundbreaking treatment, which was developed in Innsbruck from laboratory research into a market-ready medical device.
Significant increase in quality of life
A large team from the Medical University of Innsbruck has been researching the method for treating ischemic cardiomyopathy (heart muscle weakness) for years and has shown perseverance. Those affected – approximately 1.4 million people worldwide, average age 68 – suffer from shortness of breath and overall reduced physical performance, leading to a reduced quality of life.
As a result of one or more heart attacks, the heart muscle cells died and left scars. However, during a heart attack, the cells in the peripheral area of the damaged tissue go into a kind of hibernation and stop their activity, causing a part of the heart muscle to receive chronically too little blood. Bypass surgery, the most common major surgical procedure in the Western world, can only preserve, but not improve, residual pump performance.
The team from Innsbruck has now succeeded in awakening these cells using shock wave therapy in addition to the bypass operation and thus lastingly improve the pumping performance of the heart. “We know that every five percentage point improvement in pump performance results in a significant reduction in hospital admissions and an increase in life expectancy. On average, our method showed an improvement of almost twelve percentage points. “That is spectacular,” says project manager Holfeld.
Effects considerably better than hoped
The effects were even greater than expected. Significant improvements in the heart muscle could be demonstrated. Long-term results are now available from the first patients treated with the combination of bypass and shock waves as part of the study four years ago. “We see that the effect remains stable. The heart recovers and remains fit afterwards,” says clinic director Grimm.
The device should be ready for launch in 2025
The spin-off company Heart Regeneration Technologies GmbH, also based in Innsbruck, was founded for the development and production of the device, a medical product of the highest safety class. Holfeld expects the shock wave device for direct use on the heart to be commercially available in early 2025. The experts assume that more than a third of all heart failure patients benefit from the treatment, namely those who suffer from severely limited pump performance.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
