HOSPITAL patients in Oxford will be selected to take part in a drugs trial that could revolutionise treatment for a potentially life threatening heart condition.

Scientists at the University of Oxford are set to test a new way of treating people with aortic stenosis - a narrowing of the aortic valve which often requires surgery to fix.

However, previous research has shown that people with the condition can have excessive fat deposits in their heart muscle – known as cardiac steatosis.

This fat is toxic to the heart muscle and prevents it from pumping as powerfully as needed.

In the new trial patients will be given a fat-busting drug called a fibrate - already used in medicine to treat people with high fat levels - to see if this reduces the fatty deposits in the heart.

Head of Clinical Trials Group at the Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research, Dr Masliza Mahmod was awarded £290,000 by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to carry out the study.

She said: "“Aortic stenosis is a common condition in older people and it can have a big impact on a person’s ability to do everyday tasks.

“Surgery to treat the condition is usually effective and well established, but sometimes the heart’s pumping function doesn’t return to normal after surgery.

"Also, as aortic stenosis is more common in elderly people, sometimes patients will not be fit to withstand surgery, and there is currently no effective medication.

“If we can show that these fat-busting drugs improve the heart's ability to pump blood around the body in aortic stenosis, then it would give doctors a way to help people manage their condition with medication.”

Study participants will be recruited from hospitals in Oxford.

They will have an MRI scan at the start and end of the trial to assess what impact the drug has on the cardiac steatosis and on the pumping action of the heart.

Results from the study could suggest a way for doctors to help patients manage their condition.

Senior Research Advisor at the BHF, Dr Shannon Amoils, said: “This study is a first step in examining whether a drug that is already used to treat high fat levels in people could potentially improve heart function in aortic stenosis.

“If the concept behind it is proven, then the potential is there to use fibrates as a new treatment for aortic stenosis after larger trials.

"Research to ‘repurpose’ medicines that are currently already used in patients for other conditions to treat cardiovascular disease is always exciting as positive results can lead to changes in clinical practice quite quickly."