Heart failure implant operation trialled in UK Published: 23rd
Aug 2012 01:29:05 A pioneering operation in Leicester to fit a
nerve-stimulating implant in a patient with heart failure is due
to finish later. Similar to a pacemaker, it is fitted to the
vagus nerve, part of the nervous system running between the
heart and brain down the right side of the neck. Researchers
hope this will cut the stress on the heart, reducing swelling
and improving quality of life. It has been trialled in 32
European patients, but not in the UK before. Similar nerve-
simulating implants have been trialled in Bristol and Liverpool
- but this one is more specific - only targeting signals that go
to the heart, and not those that go from the heart to the brain.
"[This study] could transform heart failure treatment and
support the use of innovative therapy” Prof Jeremy Pearson, from
the British Heart Foundation said: "Heart failure affects more
than 750,000 people in the UK alone and we need new ways to
tackle this often debilitating c