Medicine Stem cell heart patch to cure severe heart failure

SDA

29.1.2025 - 17:00

Around 210,000 people in Switzerland suffer from heart failure. (archive picture)
Around 210,000 people in Switzerland suffer from heart failure. (archive picture)
Keystone

A "heart patch" cultivated from certain stem cells can apparently help people with severe heart failure. This is shown by a proof of concept published in the journal "Nature", which is the first time the approach has been tested on humans.

Keystone-SDA

Heart failure is one of the most common causes of death worldwide, but treatment options for reversing the course of the disease are limited.

A new approach for people with severe heart failure has now been developed by a research team led by Göttingen University Hospital. It is based on body cells that are transferred to the stem cell stage in the laboratory. These so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) can then develop back into different body cells.

In initial tests on a 46-year-old woman, this heart patch showed good results. In three months, the pumping capacity of the left ventricle increased from 35 to 39 percent.

Around one in ten heart failure patients are eligible for this type of therapy - that would be around 20,000 people across Switzerland.