The technique will involve electrically stimulating one of the nerves leading to the heart, which it is hoped could shrink the heart and improve life expectancy, says a team at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital and The Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
In fact, the first patient will be operated on next week, after the technique was shown to keep rats and dogs alive for longer, the 'BBC' reported.
As the heart loses its ability to pump, it fills with too much blood and becomes stretched over time. The more the heart enlarges, the worse the symptoms. So, surgeons hope to reverse the damage.
They will fit a device -- similar to a pacemaker -- to the vagus nerve which runs to the heart. Surgeons say that the electrical stimulation should "protect the heart" from the effects of the hormone adrenaline.
