Radiation Therapy May be Potential Heart Failure Treatment
Published:02 Jan.2024 Source:Washington University School of Medicine
Cardiologists and radiation oncologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis pioneered the use of radiation therapy -- a strategy typically used against cancer -- to treat patients with a life-threatening abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular tachycardia. The study suggests that low-dose radiation therapy improves heart function, at least in part, by reducing the number of inflammatory immune cells in the heart muscle.
A group of nine patients with ventricular tachycardia was evaluated with cardiac MRI before and after radiation treatment, with the MRIs showing improved heart function soon after radiation. The researchers also studied the effects of similar low-dose radiation to the heart in groups of mice with heart failure from three different causes. They found improved heart function in mice receiving radiation therapy, especially in the left ventricle. The failing mouse hearts that received radiation had reduced fibrosis -- or scar tissue -- and reductions in cardiac macrophages, a type of immune cell that can drive inflammation in the heart.
To understand more about radiation's effects on the heart, the researchers plan to continue their investigations of the patients already receiving radiation therapy for ventricular tachycardia. The current study showed, via MRI, improved heart function. Next, the researchers plan to conduct more advanced studies to see if there is evidence of reduced inflammation in the human hearts, similar to what they found in mice.