Doctors were able to “regenerate” cardiac muscle for the first time following bypass surgery by utilising moderate shockwaves.
In addition to the heart pumping more oxygen throughout the body, individuals who received the treatment reported being able to walk for six minutes without stopping and having a higher quality of life than those who did not receive the treatment. While it effectively maintains heart function, it can’t improve it. This paves the way for research into potentially regenerating damaged heart muscle after surgery, offering hope for an even brighter future for patients.
A year after surgery, the amount of oxygenated blood pumped by the heart had increased by 11.3 percent in shockwave patients and 6.3 percent in the control group who did not get the treatment, according to the study, published in the European Heart Journal. Researchers now hope to conduct a larger trial to confirm their findings.