Shockwaves for the heart

Heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases are the biggest killer in the world, causing 18 million deaths globally every year.

Cardiologists and heart surgeons try to manage heart disease with stents, surgery and drugs, but the organ itself does not heal. Finding a way to regenerate heart tissue has become a holy grail for medicine.

Now there is new hope from a strange and pioneering technique from Austria. Doctors there believe that applying shockwaves directly to the heart after surgery dramatically improves patient outcomes.

The shockwaves – which are sonic pressure waves, rather than electric shocks – lead to new growth of blood vessels and trick the body’s immune system into action.

The BBC’s global health correspondent Naomi Grimley travels to Innsbruck to see the treatment in action.

Presenter: Myra Anubi

Producer: William Kremer

Series producer: Tom Colls

Sound mix: Hal Haines and Gareth Jones

Editor: Penny Murphy

Email: [email protected]

Image: Heart surgery