February 14, 2012
Heart attack hope following ‘encouraging’ stem cell
trial
Scientists claim to have found a way to use our
heart’s own stem cells to repair the damage caused by a heart
attack.
Their research shows injecting cardiac
stem cells into patients who have had a heart attack could
help regenerate damaged heart muscle. The study involved 25 people;
8 received standard care while 17 received cardiosphere-derived
stem cells (CDCs).
CDCs are special cells created using a
patient’s own heart tissue.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, our Associate
Medical Director, said: “It’s the first time these scientists’
potentially exciting work has been carried out in
humans, and the results are very encouraging.
It's early days but it could be great news for heart attack patients
“These cells have been
proven to form heart muscle in a Petri dish but now they seem to be
doing the same thing when injected back into the heart as part of
an
apparently safe procedure.
“It’s early days, and this research will
certainly need following up, but it could be great
news for heart attack patients who face the debilitating symptoms
of heart failure.”
Heart failure means
that for some reason your heart is not pumping blood around the
body as well as it used to. It’s normally because the heart
muscle has been damaged, like after a heart attack.
Our Mending Broken
Heart’s appeal is aiming to spend £50 million on
groundbreaking, regenerative science to help people living with
heart failure.
The research was published in the Lancet.