Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Stem cells for sluggish hearts

According to a news report, they will use ADULT stem cells to regrow heart muscle for those whose hearts are very badly damaged.

Dr. Patel’s team will harvest bone marrow from the patient’s hipbone, and the cells believed to have the greatest therapeutic benefit, CD34+ cells, will be isolated. About three hours later, once the VAD has been implanted and connected to the heart’s main pumping chamber, the ventricle, the cells, together with a small amount of the patient’s blood plasma, will be injected into about 25 to 30 sites of the diseased heart in a process taking no more than five minutes. Depending on their weight, each patient will receive between 25 and 45 million stem cells.


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