HEART patients in the North East have welcomed a pioneering research programme that aims to put a halt to potentially fatal diseases.

The burden of debilitating heart failure has risen relentlessly since the 1960s, inspiring a new £50m research project by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) to find a cure.

While the number of people dying of heart disease – which includes heart attacks – has fallen in the North East from 6,100 in 1994 to 3,101 in 2008, the number of people across the UK who survive a heart attack and now live with heart failure continues to rise.

To help combat this, the BHF will today unveil a major research scheme in regenerative medicine to try to find a cure.

The Mending Broken Hearts project will involve stem cell research and developmental biology to work out how to repair or replace damaged heart muscle to literally ‘mend broken hearts’ in as little as 10 years.

The “Holy Grail” would be a pill, or injection, that could stimulate the heart to heal itself.

Another approach targets rare stem cells – immature cells that develop into a variety of tissues – that can rebuild lost heart muscle.

Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director at the BHF, said: “Since the BHF’s inception 50 years ago, we’ve made great strides in medical research to better diagnose and treat people with all kinds of heart problems.

“But the biggest issue that still eludes us is how to help people once their heart has been damaged by a heart attack. Scientifically, mending human hearts is an achievable goal and we really could make recovering from a heart attack as simple as getting over a broken leg.”