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An Australian woman has become the first person in the world to receive a new treatment hoped to prevent heart failure in thousands of people.

The original article can be found at: http://www.smh.com.au/national/woman-first-heart-patient-to-receive-new-scaffold-drug-treatment-20120426-1xo1j.html

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A good clear description of a study investigating whether this new treatment, Bioabsorbable Cardiac Matrix (BCM), might prevent the development of heart failure following myocardial infarction (heart attack). The story avoids the temptation to indulge in 'miracle' hyperbole and the expert is world-wise and cautious. Well done.

It's likely to be news for many readers that a diagnosis of heart failure has an outlook far worse outlook than many cancers - the condition sounds so benign really - but in fact, medicine's great strides in reducing death at the time of heart attack have left the legacy of later heart failure which is not benign at all.

The downside of the report is that it's made not clear that drugs currently used after a heart attack effectively reduce the risk of subsequent heart failure and that BCM would be an adjunct to these. Possible side effects and costs are not mentioned either.

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