Laser Revascularization Method Could Help Where Bypasses Can’t

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A laser technique that uses pulses of infrared light to blast channels into the heart muscle has long been the last hope for patients whose arteries are so clogged and constricted that they cannot benefit from bypass surgery. The technique, called transmyocardial laser revascularization, or TMR, has remained a niche procedure for 20 years, practiced only on patients with no other options.

In transmyocardial laser revascularization, lasers vaporize a tube of heart muscle and injure a zone of heart tissue surrounding that tube, causing either new blood vessels to develop or denervation. Courtesy of CryoLife.


But recent advances in stem cell research have inspired a new dimension to TMR therapy. Following up on promising research done in Europe, planned studies in the US will combine TMR with stem cells to spur new blood vessel growthat tube, causing either new blood vessels to develop or denervation.


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