Gene therapy: 'Heart-healing virus' trial starts [View all]
Source: BBC NEWS
Patients in the UK have been enrolled into a trial to see if an engineered virus can be used to heal their damaged and struggling hearts.
The trial will use a virus to introduce genetic material into heart muscle to reverse the organ's decline.
The British Heart Foundation said the idea had "great potential" but needed to be proven in clinical trials.
Heart failure affects more than 750,000 people in the UK and can leave some people too weak to climb the stairs.
It occurs when the organ is damaged, for example after being starved of oxygen in a heart attack, and becomes too weak to effectively pump blood around the body.
There have been huge medical leaps in keeping patients alive after a heart attack, but the consequence is a rapidly growing number of people living with heart failure.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22336300
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