A team of researchers from the Cedars Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles has proven that heart muscles that die due to lack of blood flow, may not necessarily be gone forever. In a study that could change how heart attacks are treated, Eduardo Marban and his team used stem cells to re-grow damaged heart muscle.
In the 17 patients who received the therapy, Mr Marban measured an average 50 per cent reduction in the size of the scar tissue. “Patients that were treated, not only experienced shrinkage of their scars, but also new growth of their heart muscle, which is very exciting.”
The stem cells were not derived from embryos, but instead were developed from the patients’ own hearts.
Mr Marban’s team inserted a catheter into the diseased hearts and took a small biopsy of muscle. In the laboratory, the tissue was manipulated into producing stem cells to re-inject into the patients’ hearts, which later took root in cardiac tissue.