A patient has successfully been implanted with a new microcurrent generator, developed to stimulate recovery from myocardiopathy, Austrian doctors have announced.
The operation took place three months ago and the patient is now showing "initial" signs of regeneration of the heart muscle, doctors at MedUni Vienna, said.
The treatment involves an implanted device, an implanted pulse generator, with electrodes sitting in the ventricle and on the outside of the heart muscle.
Cardiac surgeon Dominik Widemann said: "The preliminary findings brings us real hope for cardiomyopathy patients.
"Microcurrent regeneration could bring us a step closer to the dream of being able to regenerate damaged organs. Apart from heart replacement surgery, there are hardly any effective treatments available at present.
" Particularly in times when donor organs are scarce, it is important to develop new effective treatment techniques also to avoid major operations such as heart transplants as much as possible, as well as the subsequent immunosuppression that goes with them."
Leave a Reply