A flexible polymer patch, co-funded by the British Heart Foundation has been developed by researchers at the Imperial College London and the University of New South Wales to improve the conduction of electrical impulses across damaged heart tissue.
Broken Heart
The new patch can be attached to the heard without the need for stitches. The patch is made from three components and aims to help prevent arrhythmias in scarred hearts. The patch also aims to advance the ability to use stem cells to regenerate damaged heart tissue.
In addition to helping to prevent arrhythmias in scarred hearts this patch may also advance our ability to use stem cells to regenerate damaged heart tissue. The patch looks set to aid people who have suffered from heart attacks.
Heart attacks cause scars to form within the heart muscle as a way of repairing damaged tissue. These scars can block the electrical signals that control the coordination of the pumping action by the heart.
The patch has been tested on animal models but has yet to be used on patients. To test the patch on humans the researchers need to take tissue from human failing hearts removed at transplant as well as use mathematical modelling to predict whether the patch will have the same effects on a human heart.
Professor Molly Stevens, research lead from Imperial’s Department of Materials and Bioengineering said: “For people who have suffered a heart attack and have heart failure arrhythmias are a common and very serious problem, which this patch has the potential to help with. No stitches are required to attach it, so it is minimally invasive and potentially less damaging to the heart.”
Professor Sian Harding, director of the BHF Centre of Regenerative Medicine at Imperial College London and a co-author of the study, said: “We are working on using stem cells to replace this damaged muscle. However, when stem cells are first introduced into the heart they don’t beat at the same time as the rest of the heart muscle straight away. This heart patch could help us to address this issue and ultimately bring us one step closer to being able to mend broken hearts.”
The new patch developed in conjunction with Dr Damia Mawad, formerly at Imperial, who is now based at the University of New South Wales.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Although significantly more work will be need to take place before we see this patch used in people it is a highly novel way to try to enable the heart to function better after a heart attack. It therefore represents real hope for the thousands of people in the UK who have had a heart attack and the risk of developing heart failure. Through our Mending Broken Hearts appeal we have already raised £25 million for ground-breaking research which will provide real benefits for people living with heart failure.”