Doctors in Japan have transplanted a heart patch made from iPS stem cells into a patient as part of standard clinical treatment for the first time, rather than as an experimental procedure. The operation took place at a hospital in Osaka.
The surgery took about 50 minutes and was performed on a woman in her 50s from Kanagawa Prefecture, who was suffering from severe heart failure after a myocardial infarction.
The treatment, called “RiHEART,” consists of a thin sheet of heart muscle cells grown from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The patch is placed directly onto the damaged area of the heart to help repair the affected tissue.
Doctors said the patch’s main function is to promote the growth of new blood vessels and strengthen the heart muscle’s performance. RiHEART is designed specifically for patients with severe ischemic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which disrupted blood and oxygen flow — often caused by a previous heart attack or damage to the coronary arteries — weakens the heart muscle.
The technology was first tested at Osaka University in January 2020, when a sheet of heart muscle cells derived from iPS cells was transplanted into a patient. Until now, however, the procedure had remained confined to clinical trials. This marks the first time it has been used as part of standard medical treatment.
