Study tests if heart can heal without lifelong medications

Published: 28 September 2025

Researchers will assess whether heart function recovery after a heart attack is due to medication or natural healing, potentially allowing some patients to safely reduce long-term treatment.

A new clinical study is set to challenge long-standing heart attack recovery practices by investigating whether some heart attack patients can safely stop taking lifelong medication.

Dr Jocelyne Benatar, recipient of a Heart Foundation research grant, is leading a team of researchers exploring whether patients whose heart function recovers quickly after a heart attack can reduce or stop some medications, potentially transforming care and improving quality of life.

Rethinking recovery

Nearly half of heart attack patients experience a temporary weakening of the heart known as ‘stunning’, which often improves within weeks.

Despite this, many remain on long-term or lifelong medication that may no longer be necessary.

Jocelyne, a senior researcher and doctor at Auckland City Hospital, will lead the study to assess whether recovery in patients with a stunned heart is due to medication or natural healing.

The findings could potentially allow some patients to safely discontinue medications, while continuing treatment for those who need it.

“We’re trying to get the right medications and the right dose in the right patients. The problem is we’ve been adding more and more medications to patients after heart attacks,” Jocelyne says.

“When you have a heart attack your heart function has a good chance of recovering on its own in the first few weeks because for many the heart has been stunned instead of permanently damaged. Yet we’ve been introducing all these chronic treatments in patients. 

“They often leave hospital on six or seven medications. But when follow-up scans show their heart function has normalised, they frequently ask, ‘Can I stop taking these?’

“The truth is we don’t know. We don’t know if the heart improved because of medication, or if the heart improved spontaneously?”

How the study will work

The trial will involve heart attack patients from across New Zealand who have undergone procedures to restore blood flow to the heart. 

All participants will be given medication at the early high-risk stage.

After about two to four weeks, doctors will assess heart function using ultrasound. Patients showing good recovery will be randomly assigned to either continue or stop some of their medication.

Those with ongoing heart weakness will continue with regular treatment and be monitored closely.

Researchers will then track long-term outcomes to determine whether the heart heals naturally or if continued medication is essential.

Jocelyne’s goal is to give patients a clear treatment plan, something she says is currently lacking.

“If patients aren’t convinced they need to be on medication, they’re more likely to stop everything, which has its own risks for those who need it.

“I want to be able to answer the question for the patients, ‘Do I need to be on these drugs?’ We’re hoping our research will give some clarity to this.”

Fewer pills, better outcomes?

One key advantage would be the reduction of polypharmacy, the practice of prescribing multiple medications. Demonstrating positive outcomes from medication de-escalation may also ease patient concerns about discontinuing treatment.

“If you overmedicate people there can be issues,” explains Jocelyne. “One is side effects. The other is that patients who need medication might stop taking everything.”

By identifying who truly needs ongoing treatment, the research aims to improve health outcomes, reduce costs, and make recovery more manageable and equitable.

New era in heart care

Heart Foundation Medical Director Dr Gerry Devlin says that Jocelyne’s study is addressing an important and topical question. 

“This research is important because once commenced health professionals are very reticent to reduce medications. This research may indicate a potential new way of managing people after a heart attack and is likely to inform a much larger clinical trial if the results are positive.”