Stem cells and heart attacks

Filed in archive Treatment on July 26, 2005

They going into phase 1 trials using stem cells to restore damaged heart function:

Patient trials have started that may pave the way to the first cure for heart attacks using stem cells, it has emerged.

The move follows the successful treatment of pigs with adult stem cells transplanted from bone marrow. In just two months, stem cells injected into the pigs' damaged hearts restored their function by 50% to 75%.

Two patients have already been enrolled into a follow-up human trial launched by US scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

A total of 48 heart attack patients will ultimately take part in the phase 1 study, which is designed to test the safety of injecting adult stem cells into their hearts.

("Trials 'may cure heart attacks'", Daily Mail, Jul.25)

picture via Hybrid Medical Animation