Self-healing hearts, The Mirror

In the fight against heart attacks, high-performance medicine saves many lives, but it does not bring a cure. Now doctors are breaking new ground in heart therapy: They are relying on the body’s own bypasses – and the help of patients.

The 54-year-old Dietmar K. from Cologne has a sick heart and yet does not have to suffer. Doctors have already dilated the man’s coronary artery narrowings four times with a tiny inflatable balloon. To keep the vessels open permanently, they then installed stents, tiny support tubes made of metal. Thanks to the implanted …