Surgeons attempt to repair hearts with stem cells
London, (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE)
By James Randerson
British scientists have been given the go-ahead to begin potentially
ground-breaking experiments using injections of stem cells to repair
patients' damaged hearts. The team hopes to repair the organs of
people who have suffered the most severe heart attacks.
This week the team at Bristol University and Bristol Royal Infirmary
received regulatory approval to begin recruiting patients for the
study. The researchers will treat 60 patients who have been referred
for coronary bypass operations. Heart disease is the UK's largest
killer. Around a third of the 230,000 people who suffer a heart
attack each year die, and around a third who survive long enough to
receive a bypass operation die within two or three years.
Heart attacks occur when the heart muscle is starved of oxygen,
usually because the arteries that supply it with blood become blocked
with fatty deposits. A bypass operation restores this blood supply,
but the lack of oxygen leads to permanent scarring of the heart
muscle.
Even after the operation the heart's activity does not return to
normal. "If you have a large heart attack like this and you are lucky
and are referred for a bypass operation, your quality of life will be
permanently affected because the pumping function of your heart is
reduced," said Raimondo Ascione, the surgeon who is leading the
research. "Your tolerance to exercise is reduced so you can't really
enjoy your life."
The trial will involve patients with the worst prognosis, those who
have scarring on at least half of the left ventricular wall. "It's
the worst heart attack you can have. Most patients just die," said
Ascione.
The team will extract bone marrow from all 60 patients and separate
out a class of stem cells that makes up 1% of the tissue. Previous
studies have suggested that this cell type is able to regenerate
heart muscle cells and blood vessels. By using the patient's own
cells there will be no problems with tissue rejection.
Half of the patients will receive 15 injections of these selected
cells - eight around the edge of the scar and seven in the middle -
while the other half will receive dummy injections. Ascione believes
his approach using a concentrated extract of stem cells will be more
successful than previous studies. In his patients the team will
examine the size of the scarred tissue in the heart six months after
the operation using an imaging technique called heart MRI. That will
give an accurate measure of improvement.
The team received funding for the study last summer from the British
Heart Foundation, but has since been fighting to receive regulatory
approval. Ascione estimates that it will take around two years to
carry out the operations and complete follow up observations of the
patients.
http://www.thehindu
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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