New coiled fibers could be the secret to healing damaged hearts

Heart disease often leads to heart attacks, and hearts attacks kill heart muscle cells, this is why half of the people who survive heart attacks die within 5 years. For years researchers have been trying to find a way engineer heart tissue that they could use to patch up damaged hearts, but they’ve been unsuccessful, until now.

By growing heart cells in scaffolds made of coiled fibers, scientists could develop implants that could help people’s hearts spring back into action after heart attacks. Heart disease accounts for more than a third of all deaths in the United States. Its costs exceed $312 billion yearly, and are expected to exceed $1.5 trillion per year by 2030, according to the 2013 American Heart Association report.