Recently there was some discussion here about the possibility of a heart healing itself to the point where a PM was unnecessary. The following article was published recently by the AP. While it strongly implies the medical community is surprised by the results, as I said before I've read several medical journals showing other cases.

Study: British girl's damaged heart heals itself a decade after doctors give her second heart
07-13-2009 09:40 PM MST |By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

British doctors designed a radical solution to save a girl with major heart problems in 1995: they implanted a donor heart directly onto her own failing heart.

After 10 years with two blood pumping organs, Hannah Clark's faulty one did what many experts had thought impossible: it healed itself enough so that doctors could remove the donated heart.

But she also had a price to pay: the drugs Clark took to prevent her body from rejecting the donated heart led to malignant cancer that required chemotherapy.

Details of Clark's revolutionary transplant and follow-up care were published online Tuesday in the medical journal Lancet.

"This shows that the heart can indeed repair itself if given the opportunity," said Dr. Douglas Zipes, a past president of the American College of Cardiology. Zipes was not linked to Clark's treatment or to the Lancet paper. "The heart apparently has major regenerative powers, and it is now key to find out how they work."

(The balance of the article can be found at ...)
http://ww2.cox.com/myconnection/arizona/today/news/health/article.cox?articleId=D99E0ODO0&moduleType=apNews

 

 

I think I would rather keep my PM over the malignant cancer and chemo...

 

I found it very interesting when reading this article the implication that anti-rejection drugs used on transplant patients cause an agressive form of cancer. Wonder how many patients were advised of that little tidbit.

However, You missed the point. The point is that there is scientific evidence that the heart can repair itself over time, and by utilizing an aid such as a pacemaker, or in the case of this particular article another heart, the workload is taken off the heart thereby giving it time to regenerate. No different than a cut healing with new cells when properly taken care of.

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OK, I got the point.... That was just my observation and I am very thankful for my PM and that my heart does not have to work as hard which I am sure helps it over time.

 

obviously interested in the info. we are lucky to be lviing in an age of new discoveries that were unheard of even a few years ago. thank you for the info. gives one hope. jessie