With shock wave therapy

Innsbruck researchers renew heart muscle cells

Johannes Holfeld (r) holds the shock wave device during a bypass operation.

(Bild: Univ.-Klinik f. Herzchirurgie/MUI)

Researchers at the Department of Cardiac Surgery at the Medical University of Innsbruck have achieved a medical breakthrough. Inactive heart muscle cells were revived using shock wave therapy and simultaneous bypass surgery. A new device is due to come onto the market at the beginning of 2025.

The lives of patients with chronic heart muscle weakness could improve dramatically in the future. A new bypass operation including open-heart shock wave therapy revives inactive heart muscle cells and allows new blood vessels to develop.

A medical innovation, as Michael Grimm, Director of the University Clinic for Cardiac Surgery in Innsbruck, explains: "For the first time, it is now possible to substantially and permanently improve the heart muscle". His team, led by Johannes Holfeld, has now been able to prove this in a clinical study. On Thursday, the European Heart Journal published the research paper on the ground-breaking treatment, which was developed from laboratory research to a market-ready medical product in Innsbruck.

Johannes Holfeld (r) performs shockwave therapy on the heart muscle during a bypass operation

(Bild: Univ.-Klinik f. Herzchirurgie/MUI)

Significant improvement in quality of life
For many years, a large team at the Medical University of Innsbruck has been researching the method for treating ischemic cardiomyopathy (heart muscle weakness) and has shown great patience. Those affected - around 1.4 million people worldwide, with an average age of 68 - suffer from shortness of breath and an overall reduced physical capacity, which leads to a reduced quality of life.

We know that every five percentage points of improvement in pump performance results in a significant reduction in hospital readmissions and an increase in life expectancy. Our method has shown an average improvement of almost twelve percentage points. That is spectacular.

Projektleiter Johannes Holfeld

As a result of one or more heart attacks, heart muscle cells perished and left scars. However, cells in the peripheral area of the damaged tissue fall into a kind of hibernation during a heart attack and put their activity on hold, leaving part of the heart muscle chronically undersupplied with blood. Bypass surgery, the most common major surgical procedure in the Western world, can only maintain the remaining pumping capacity, but not improve it.

The team from Innsbruck has now succeeded in reawakening these cells with shock wave therapy as a supplement to bypass surgery, thereby improving the heart's pumping capacity in the long term. "We know that every five percentage points improvement in pumping capacity results in a significant reduction in hospital readmissions and an increase in life expectancy. Our method has shown an average improvement of almost twelve percentage points. That's spectacular," says project manager Holfeld.

We can see that the effect remains stable. The heart recovers and then stays fit.

Michael Grimm, Direktor der Univ.-Klinik für Herzchirurgie in Innsbruck

Effects much better than hoped for
The effects were even more pronounced than expected. Significant improvements in the heart muscle could be demonstrated. Long-term results of the first patients treated with the combination of bypass and shock waves four years ago as part of the study are now available. "We can see that the effect remains stable. The heart recovers and then stays fit," says Clinic Director Grimm.

Device to be ready for launch in 2025
The spin-off company Heart Regeneration Technologies GmbH, which is also based in Innsbruck, was also founded to develop and produce the device, a medical product of the highest safety class. Holfeld expects the shockwave device for direct use on the heart to be launched on the market in early 2025. The experts assume that more than a third of all heart failure patients will benefit from the treatment, namely those who suffer from severely restricted pumping capacity.