University Hospitals Awarded $6 Million For Heart Research

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has granted $6 million to a research center on heart disease at two Harvard teaching hospitals.

The Specialized Center of Research on Ischemic Heart Disease, located in the Massachusetts General (MGH) and Peter Bent Brigham Hospitals, studies heart disease caused by narrowing of the arteries that provide blood to the heart, Dr. W. Gerald Austen, Churchill Professor of Medicine and co-principal investigator, said yesterday.

The grant is a continuation of programs funded at MGH for the past five years, and Dr. Edgar Haber, chief of the cardiac unit at the hospital said yesterday he hopes the additional money and the new researchers from Brigham Hospital will lead to "a better understanding of coronary disease and how we can help coronary patients."

During the first five years of research, the center introduced several innovations to aid cardiac patients, including blood clot-dissolving enzymes, the insertion of a balloon into the aorta to help pump blood, and the use of radioactive thalium 20 to differentiate healthy heart cells from irreversibly damaged ones.

Haber said the center's work spans many disciplines, from "biochemistry and basic physiology to evaluating patient treatment techniques."

Austen said the grant, one of the largest the institute has awarded is important because more than half the people in the United States die of cardiovascular disease.

"Ischemic heart disease has a tremendous impact in terms of the health of this country," Austen said. "This study, done in the proper way, will shed light on how to treat it."