A hospital in Japan has performed the world’s first surgery using commercially available sheets of heart muscle cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, marking a significant step in regenerative heart treatment.   The procedure was carried out on Tuesday at Osaka Keisatsu Hospital on a woman in her 50s. The hour-long operation involved transplanting sheets of heart muscle cells into her heart. The treatment received conditional government approval in Japan in March, allowing its first clinical use. “Our hope is that this will improve the patient’s quality of life,” surgeon Yoshiki Sawa, head of Osaka Keisatsu Hospital, told reporters after the operation. The regenerative therapy was previously tested on eight patients with ischaemic heart disease, a condition in which narrowed heart arteries reduce blood flow to the heart. According to Japanese media reports, all eight patients experienced an easing of symptoms, while four recorded improvements in heart function. Sawa developed the technology in collaboration with Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research into induced pluripotent stem cells, commonly known as iPS cells. iPS cells are created by reprogramming mature specialised cells into a more flexible, juvenile-like state, allowing them to develop into different types of cells. The therapy is primarily intended for heart patients who have exhausted other treatment options. It is expected to help improve heart muscle function, heart failure symptoms, cardiac performance and exercise tolerance. Sawa’s team plans to carry out similar procedures on 75 patients by 2033 as part of efforts to establish the treatment’s effectiveness and safety. The treatment could receive full authorisation if its benefits and safety are demonstrated during the seven-year evaluation period, according to Japanese media reports. Japan also granted conditional approval in March for an iPS cell-based treatment for Parkinson’s disease following a successful clinical trial.