A Medical Device Daily

Bioheart, (Sunrise, Florida) reported being awarded a U.S. patent for a method to repair damaged myocardium (heart tissue) by a combination of cell transplantation and electro-stimulation.

It said that one potential application for this technology is to adapt a bi-ventricular pacemaker with a separate lead that could apply the electro-stimulation to the cell-transplanted regions. Electro-stimulation induces cells to contract in an even more synchronized basis with the surrounding tissue and increase their ability to release growth factors and other beneficial proteins, according to the comopany.

Bioheart said the patent is complementary to its previously granted patent for inducing angiogenesis by electrical stimulation. Another application for this technology may be to combine it with Bioheart’s MyoCell therapy for the recovery of heart muscle in cardiac patients afflicted with damaged heart tissue.

Bioheart is focused on the development of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage.