Cardiologists of the Catharina Hospital have managed to cool the heart in people locally during a heart attack.
According to cardiologists the damage of a heart attack might be limited and significant health gains may be achieved by cooling a part of the heart before and after percutaneous angioplasty. The final impact of the heart attack and the damage to the heart muscle can be reduced by 20 to 30 percent.
Cardiologist Luuk Ottenspoor compares the method with the cooling of a knee after a collision on the sports field. An inflammatory reaction starts immediately by which the knee swells. In order to prevent this swelling, muscles are often directly cooled. The same principle is used in the heart muscle.
Meanwhile, ten patients have demonstrated that it is technically possible to cool the heart during a heart attack in a safe way. Tomorrow Ottenspoor will be awarded for this research at the TU/e.
The innovative procedure has been developed together with scientists of the Technical University and LifeTec Group in Eindhoven. The Catharina Cardiovascular Center starts a big European follow-up research.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by: Bob
