Stem Cell Hope for Heart Victims

London — Two heart attack victims have become the first patients in Britain to be treated with their own stem cells in a pioneering bid to heal damaged tissue, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

The men had stem cells taken from bone marrow in their hip and injected into their hearts within a critical five hours of the attack in an attempt to improve their quality of life and delay or prevent the onset of heart failure, a frequent complication.

Doctors carried out the procedure within the past few days and say it is too early to judge its success.

The stem cells were injected in conjunction with angioplasty, the procedure in which blocked arteries in heart attack patients are opened with a balloon.

Researchers say the men, who have not been named, are the first two of 100 patients who will be treated with the method in a $2.4 million research project, the first to be supported by the U.K. Stem Cell Foundation.

The procedure was designed by a senior lecturer and consultant cardiologist at Barts, Dr. Anthony Mathur, the London NHS Trust, and the British Heart Foundation chair in cardiovascular sciences at University College London, Professor John Martin.