Stem cells to regrow damaged heart muscles

Heart attack, the leading killer of both men and women in U.S., generally occurs when blood supply to a section of the heart muscle gets blocked. If the flow of blood is not restored quickly, it causes scarring of the heart muscle, reducing its ability to pump, due to lack of oxygen.

There are treatments for heart attacks, where doctors promptly opened up the clogged artery and limited the damage with certain drugs.

Treatment to re-grow new heart muscle
Doctors are now trying to use stem cell treatment, by giving heart attack patients an infusion of stem cells, grown from his/her own heart muscles.

For this ground breaking experiment, doctors at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, are studying 24 heart patients, while trying to regenerate their damaged hearts.

39-year-old Ken Milles, who was blindsided by a serious heart attack, volunteered to be one of the subjects, becoming the first person ever to get an infusion of his own heart stem cells.

"When the doctor told me that there was permanent damage and that the duration of my life was reduced - that freaked me out," said Milles.

Dr. Eduardo Marban of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, said, “We seek to actually reverse the injury that has been caused by the heart attack, by re-growing new heart muscle to at least partially replace the scar that's formed."

"The hope is that if can actually harness the stem cells to re-grow heart muscle in the area that was damaged by the heart attack, we can prevent those complications of heart disease," said Dr. Alan Heldman, a leading U.S. based cardiologist.

Process involved
By using local anesthesia, doctors first send a catheter with little pincers to snip out bits of the healthy heart tissue. These are then sent to the laboratory where they are used to manufacture almost 25,000,000 stem cells.

In a trailblazing procedure, new cells grow spontaneously from the specimens, eventually forming into clusters called "cardio-spheres."

"If this works, it's gonna help so many people. It's gonna change everything," said Milles.

In 6 months’ time, doctors will know if Ken's heart has begun to repair itself. The clinical trials will be completed in another three to four years.

What is stem cell treatment
The stem cells are unique cells present in each tissue of the body, having the ability to produce new cells.

These rare cells respond to growth factors which rapidly produce new cells wherever the stem cells are injected within their environment.

They push the developing cells into becoming various types of new cells that are required in regeneration of a damaged organ.