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A heart attack patient has become the first person to be treated in a clinical trial of an experimental gene therapy, which aims to strengthen blood vessels after coronary bypass surgery.
Coronary artery bypass surgery is performed to treat coronary artery disease, which occurs when fatty buildups cause the blood vessels feeding the heart to become narrowed. The replacement blood vessels, sourced from other parts of the body, sometimes fail following surgery as they're not used to the blood pressure coming from the heart.
'Heart bypass surgery is a life-saving treatment for patients with coronary heart disease ... The heart surgeon will typically use one artery and two or more veins as bypass grafts. However, in the years after surgery, the veins commonly narrow and may block, leading to angina, heart attacks and heart failure,' explained Professor Colin Berry, from the University of Glasgow, who led the research.
'Our team has developed a new approach to prevent vein graft failure... We are delighted to be leading this new study, which is designed to clarify the feasibility and potential...