Meanwhile Heinrich Wieneke, an assistant professor of cardiology at the West German Heart Centre in Essen, is working on another leadless approach.

ECONOMIST: Case history

"Currently, there are no approved therapies in regenerative medicine for heart failure, " said Karen Christman, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego, who wasn't involved in the latest experiments.

WSJ: Nanotechnology Holds Promise for Heart Patients

"We were delighted to find that patients who get the current state-of-the-art treatment with platelet blockers, medical treatment and stents during procedures had a significant improvement in their outcome, " said Dr. Christopher Cannon, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator for a number of heart-related studies at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

CNN: Research closing in on heart disease