London hospital creates world’s first artificial coronary arteries

 

A London hospital is on the verge of a world breakthrough in heart disease by creating the first artificial coronary artery.

In September doctors at the Royal Free, in Hampstead, will launch in-patient trials of the replacement artery, which they have created from a man-made substance similar to “crushed butterfly wings”.

Professor Alex Seifalian, of the University College London division of surgery and interventional science, who has been working on the project for almost a decade, told the Standard: “Coronary artery bypass has been my dream.” Around 40 patients will be recruited for the trials, to be carried out at the Heart Hospital in Marylebone, part of UCLH NHS trust.

Patients who need a coronary bypass normally have a vein transplanted from their arm or leg to their heart. But Professor Seifalian said that in up to 30 per cent of cases there was not a good enough vein to transplant — leaving the patient without a life-saving option.

“We can’t do anything for them,” he said. “If no blood gets to the muscle, then the muscle dies. If blood doesn’t go to the head and neck then you get a heart attack and people die.

“Essentially we are doing this for patients who don’t have a suitable vein. I don’t think we will have any problem recruiting patients.”

Professor Seifalian said transplantation no longer needed body parts from other humans as a result of advances in synthetic materials. In 2011 he attracted headlines by creating an artificial windpipe.

He said the rubbery “nano composite” polymer for the prosthetic artery was remarkable in being incredibly thin but containing an inner consistency akin to the “bubbles” in an Aero chocolate bar. The patient’s own stem cells are sprayed on to the surface, or “scaffold”, and more are caught as blood flows through the tube. “It will become like a real artery,” he said.

He said the trials had the potential to be hugely lucrative. “If it works, I will be living in the Bahamas,” he joked. “The market for coronary artery bypass is £5 billion a year.”

The Royal Free has unveiled plans to become the leading immunology centre in Europe. Immunology uses the body’s own defences to treat conditions rather than requiring patients to become dependent on drugs.

The £42 million Institute of Immunity and Transplantation, for which about £7 million is still being sought, will include research space for UCL scientists and a patient “hotel”. The five-storey building is due to open in 2017.

Professor Hans Strauss said: “It allows us to bring together a critical mass. Some of the work is very complex. It requires expensive equipment and quite a lot of expertise.

“It’s a bit of a paradigm shift as we are starting to treat diseases as well as auto-immune conditions.”

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