How Stem Cells Helped My Heart

Clinical tests on persons with severe heart disease have shown that when their own stem cells were injected back into their hearts, their heart disease showed marked improvement. These heart patients regained some of the mobility they had lost as a result of their heart disease and saw a reversal of some of their symptoms.

Heart researchers from Northwestern University and Baxter International, who developed a special device used in the testing. The device extracts stem cells from the patients’ bone marrow and purifies them for re-introduction into the donors’ hearts.The test panel consisted of 167 males divided into a test and a control group. All of the men suffered from medium to severe heart disease. The test just completed Phase II of a three-part series, and after the second phase, many in the test group patients had already seen a reduction in angina and an increase in their mobility.Some of the patients had already had open-heart surgery or angioplasty. After they had taken the stem cell treatments, many formerly home-bound heart patients could resume nearly normal activities like going grocery shopping or climbing stairs.

It’s not surprising that these results have created much excitement in stem cell research and cardiovascular medical circles. They were presented to the American Heart Association at their scientific conference in Orlando, Florida, this past fall. The last phase of the testing, which is needed for FDA approval,has not yet announced a date for its start. The third and final stage of the tests will involve a sample of several hundred patients.

This is not a precedent as there are similar examples of introducing the patients’ own stem cells into their diseased bodies that help cure their diseases. One area with similar results is cancer, particularly lymphatic cancer. Another is spinal cord therapy.

 

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Filed under: Health and Fitness: Heart Disease

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