Heart attack patients may benefit from being given a high dose of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil in the aftermath of their attack, a new study has found.

According to the findings, these fatty acids could improve the function of the heart and reduce scarring in the undamaged muscle if taken every day for six months.

The shape and functioning of the heart can be altered after a heart attack. This is known as post-heart attack remodeling and it can lead to heart failure and poor patient outcomes overall. Treatments to improve how the heart heals and to prevent adverse remodeling are rare.

While it was already known that omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil could improve survival in heart attack patients, until now, their role in improving the structure of the heart after a heart attack was unknown.

The US researchers found that heart attack patients who took a 4g dose of omega-3 fatty acids every day in the six months after their attack had better heart functioning and had a reduced amount of scarred connective tissue (fibrosis) formation in their non-damaged heart muscle.

"Heart failure is still a major problem after a heart attack despite all the therapy we have and the advances in interventional care. Our findings show that omega-3 fatty acids are a safe and effective treatment in improving cardiac remodeling, so it may be promising in reducing the incidence of heart failure or death, which are still major healthcare burdens to patients who suffer a heart attack," explained the study's senior author, Dr Raymond Kwong, of the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The researchers believe that the fatty acids allow the heart to contract better, while also reducing fibrosis in the part of the heart that is not damaged.

They also believe that fatty acids may have anti-inflammatory properties.

The study involved 360 heart attack patients, half of whom were given supplements containing a high-dose of fatty acids from fish oil for six months, while the other half received a placebo.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Circulation.