Incredibly, the majority of the treatment can take place at home, with the time between someone suffering a massive heart attack and the organ being as good as new being just a couple of months. It is thought a fifth of people who survive a major cardiac arrest but are left with a damaged heart are likely to benefit from the experimental therapy. Experts say initial findings suggest those who have suffered crippling heart failure can go on to lead normal lives. Around 70,000 people die each year of heart failure.

We think about one in five people who survive a major heart attack are likely to benefit from the therapy Dr John Hung

Dr John Hung, a cardiology specialist working on the trials in Edinburgh, said that because anyone can have the treatment it has the potential to save huge numbers of lives and at the same time slash the NHS bill for the future care of heart failure patients. He added: “We think about one in five people who survive a major heart attack are likely to benefit from the therapy, and this could mean hundreds of thousands in the UK or many millions across the world. "There should also be healthcare savings from the reduced costs for medication, ongoing treatment and recurrent hospitalisations.” One patient who was given a 50-50 chance of surviving five years after suffering a major heart attack, because of the damage it caused, has spoken of his gratitude of being given the radical treatment. One patient called Bill, not his real name, now has almost normal heart function and he believes he has been given a second chance at life.

The trial is being led by Prof David Newby

Professor David Newby, of the British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence at the University of Edinburgh, is leading the trial. He told the Daily Express: “This is a potentially life-changing therapy for a significant number of patients with heart failure after a heart attack. “In some ways stem cell therapy has been a little like throwing bricks at a bridge which has collapsed in the middle. In order for them to stay in place, you need a scaffold and the right bricks, and the hope is we have both.” Professor Newby said some repair and recovery would occur naturally but Professor Philippe Henon, the French haematologist who developed the therapy, says six out of seven patients who took part in a pilot showed “significant” improvement in their health following his treatment. After a massive heart attack blocked arteries prevent blood flow to the organ resulting in tissue and muscle death. Heart failure affects a third who have suffered a major heart attack. There are thought to be one million heart attack survivors in the UK but many have been left living with heart failure which causes breathlessness, repeated hospitalisation and high risk of subsequent arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

Early warning signs of a heart attack Mon, August 29, 2016 Although chest pain is often severe, sometimes people only suffer minor pain, similar to indigestion. Here are some of the early warning signs and symptoms of a heart attack. Play slideshow 1 of 9

Although the body attempts to heal itself by releasing stem cells into the blood, there are often not enough to repair the damage. The pioneering procedure boosts the natural healing process by delivering a large number of specific stem cells that repair the ruptured muscle and small blood vessels flowing into it. Previous attempts to repair the damage have used non-specific stem cells from bone marrow rather than blood. They were delivered indirectly to the heart by infusion. This procedure selects and expands so-called CD34+ stem cells, which are collected in large quantities and sent to the heart via blood vessels after an injection in the groin. The first phase of treatment involves daily injections of growth factor to encourage the bone marrow to make more stem cells. Then a sample of blood, roughly half the amount you would give in a blood donation, is taken.

Dr Hung is using stem cells to cure heart failure

The sample goes to the Cellular Therapies Facility at Newcastle University, one of only two centres in the world equipped with the StemXpand automated system which isolates and cultures the CD34+ cells. During this process, the number of cells in the blood is multiplied 20-fold in nine days until they have the ability to generate new cardiac tissue and blood vessels. If further tests go as planned experts say the technique could signal the end of current alternative treatments including transplant by open heart surgery and an over-reliance on drugs like beta-blockers and ACE inhibitors, which have side effects. It is difficult to estimate the cost of the new treatment at this stage but it is likely to be less than being treated in hospital for heart failure, which currently costs around £3,000 for the admission alone. A bypass operation, which is commonly used on patients, can cost the NHS as much as £10,000 a time. Heart failure accounts for a million inpatient bed days a year – two per cent of the NHS total. It is responsible for five per cent of all emergency hospital admissions and an ageing population means this could rise to 50 per cent over the next 25 years.

6 heart attack symptoms in women Tue, August 30, 2016 Women don't always suffer the same heart attack symptoms as men, here are six early warning signs to look out for. Play slideshow Getty 1 of 7 6 early signs of a heart attack

For some patients a heart transplant offers the best chance of longterm survival, however a shortage of donor organs means 15 per cent of non-urgent cases die within three years of being put on the waiting list. Dr Hung said: “Attempts to regenerate the heart in this way have never been done before. This is not cloning, genetic manipulation or using human embryonic stem cells. “The beauty of this procedure is that it uses the patient’s own blood so there is no issue with rejection. We are delivering the stem cell right into the area that has been damaged. “The real value here is the impact on the people we treat because this procedure will prevent the need to continuously go into hospital and significantly increase quality of life. “If the next round of trials are successful we could be looking at the treatment being widely used in as little as five to 10 years.” Crucially the procedure, designed by French biotech company CellProthera, is carried out within weeks of emergency stent procedure which is standard practice after a major heart attack. Optimism comes after the pilot study of seven patients. Six have seen significant improvements in cardiac function and now have near-normal heart function.Before treatment, three had such severe heart failure they were being considered for a heart transplant. One who did not respond to the experimental treatment had suffered a heart attack eight years before undergoing the therapy.

The procedure could help a fifth of people who have a cardiac arrest