World’s first ‘artificial heart-stem cells’ combo op saves a life

LONDON - A British surgeon has for the first time used a combination of an artificial heart and stem cells to save the life of a dying man.

Professor Stephen Westaby, based at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, led the team that operated on Ioannis Manolopoulos in Thessaloniki, Greece, to fit him with the mechanical pump because his heart was too weak to push blood around his body.

Surgeons then injected his failing heart muscle with six million of his own stem cells in the hope that they would repair the damage, reports The Times.

Manolopoulos, who is recovering after the operation two weeks ago, told Sky News: “If things go well, I must go to church and pray because I feel very lucky to get this device and have the chance of a normal life.”

He had been in hospital for four months after at least two heart attacks and other treatment had failed to improve his condition. (ANI)