Gene therapy could replace heart transplant operations
Posted: August 12, 2014 at 2:46 am
The therapy involves injecting a harmless altered virus into the blood stream [GETTY/PIC POSED BY MODEL]
Lee Adams, a 37-year-old carpenter, is the first patient in the world to take part in a gene therapy trial while wired up to a mechanical heart pump.
The study is to investigate the use of the therapy on 24 patients with advanced heart failure, recruited from Harefield Hospital, London, and Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire.
All the participants are kept alive by a Left Ventricular Assist Device while they wait for heart transplants.
Many such patients endure agonising delays in finding a suitable donor.
Sixteen randomly chosen patients will be treated with a corrective gene to help their hearts beat more strongly.
Eight others will receive a dummy placebo therapy.
Lee, from Rickmansworth, Herts does not know which group he is in.
He said: Of course the best thing that could happen would be for my heart function to show signs of improvement and for the gene therapy to prove to be a miracle cure.
No matter what the cause of the heart failure, the therapy should be equally beneficial for patients
Go here to see the original:
Gene therapy could replace heart transplant operations