Stem cell re-growth achieved in heart attack patients

New research has shown positive signs for the reversal of damaged stem cells after a heart attack by infusing heart-derived cells to help damaged hearts re-grow healthy muscle.

The study, conducted by Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, found that patients who underwent the stem cell procedure showed considerable reduction in the size of the scar left on the heart muscle after an attack. The patients also experienced a healthy increase in healthy heart muscle following the experimental treatments.

Eduardo Marbán, MD, PhD, the director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute who invented the procedures and technology involved in the study, said: "This has never been accomplished before, despite a decade of cell therapy trials for patients with heart attacks. Now we have done it. The effects are substantial, and surprisingly larger in humans than they were in animal tests."

The 25 patients had an average age of 53, and showed scar size to have reduced by 24 per cent to 12 per cent of the heart in patients treated with cells one year after receiving the treatment.

The number of people dying from coronary heart disease (CHD) has more than halved in the UK from 166,000 in 1961 to about 80,000 in 2009.  The quality of the average UK diet has improved since the 1960s, with a reduction in saturated fat and sugar intake. Heavy drinking has also seen no substantial increase in either men or women, which has lowered coronary problems.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths