UK surgeon uses stem cells to fix heart in world-first op

A British surgeon saved a dying patient by giving him an artificial heart and injecting him with stem cells to rebuild the damaged muscle, in a procedure believed to be a world first.

Professor Stephen Westaby, from Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, led the team that operated on Ioannis Manolopoulos in Greece, to fit him with a mechanical pump.

Artificial hearts are used in only a handful of patients in the UK and Mr Westaby believes the use of the patient's own cells, taken from his bone marrow, represents the first time the two treatments have been combined. Mr Manolopoulos, who is recovering after the operation two weeks ago, said he felt "very lucky". He had been in hospital for four months after suffering at least two heart attacks. Other treatment had failed to improve his condition.

The device will divert blood away from the damaged chamber, to allow his heart to repair itself. In many patients the muscle heals so well that the pump can be removed.

Mr Westaby said the NHS only funds a handful of operations each year to give pumps to transplant patients in the UK.

He said: "I am very frustrated that all the work that I have done back home in the UK has to be translated into patient care in other countries. We have helped to develop implantation programmes in France, Greece and Japan. It's time we did it in the UK.

"The economics in the health service are the problem. So many patients could benefit that the costs would be substantial."