TUCSON, Ariz. — For decades, medical science has insisted that the human heart cannot repair itself in any meaningful way. This dogma, as fundam

Heart tissue can regenerate — How Cold War nuclear tests led to major discovery

submited by

Style Pass

2024-12-22 15:00:02

TUCSON, Ariz. — For decades, medical science has insisted that the human heart cannot repair itself in any meaningful way. This dogma, as fundamental to cardiology as a heartbeat itself, is now being challenged by game-changing research that reveals our hearts may possess an extraordinary power of regeneration—provided they’re given the right conditions to heal.

The study, published in Circulation, offers potential new directions for treating heart failure, a condition that affects nearly 7 million U.S. adults and accounts for 14% of deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Traditionally, the medical community has viewed the human heart as having minimal regenerative capabilities. Unlike skeletal muscles that can heal after injury, cardiac muscle tissue has been thought to have very limited repair capacity.

“When a heart muscle is injured, it doesn’t grow back. We have nothing to reverse heart muscle loss,” says Dr. Hesham Sadek, director of the Sarver Heart Center at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, in a statement.