Emergency heart attack patients will be injected with their own stem cells in a dramatic new treatment.
The procedure, being pioneered by British doctors, holds out hope of a 'cure' as the stem cells repair damaged heart muscles.
The low-cost treatment, which involves removing stem cells from the patient's bone marrow, could be given within a few hours of a heart attack.
It is intended to stop patients suffering further attacks and developing heart failure, something existing treatments fail to do in many cases.
If the initial trials in London are successful, the treatment is likely to be extended to NHS hospitals across the country.
Researchers have called the project - the first of its kind in the world - "very exciting" and say it could have a significant impact on the annual toll of deaths from heart disease.
As well as saving lives, it would also reduce the £7billion-a-year burden of heart attacks on the economy through hospital admissions, drug prescriptions and lost working days. Stem cell cure for heart attacks by Julie Wheldon (11-7-06)