Muscle patches generated from stem cells helped ease heart problems in monkeys and a human patient, in a potential advance towards improving treatments for the scourge of cardiac failure. Rhesus macaques’ heart functions improved using the technique, while preliminary results suggested similar effects on a person with advanced cardiac problems.

Damaged hearts could be mended using small "patches" of heart muscle grown in the lab, say scientists writing in Nature. The technology could give new hope to millions of people with advanced heart failure whose treatment options are currently limited, the German researchers say.

In "remarkable" work, a patch of engineered heart muscle cells was used to strengthen a patient's heart before transplant.

This is especially problematic in cases of blocked blood vessels, which can repeatedly starve large areas of the heart of oxygen and nutrients, killing the cardiomyocytes there. This leads to a reduction in cardiac function and can ultimately result in death.

Patches of beating, lab-grown muscle sewn into failing hearts can keep patients alive for years while they wait for a transplant, scientists have shown.

Grafting patches of lab-grown muscle to the surface of the heart could offer a lifeline for people waiting for a transplant.