After years of failure, study finds hearts were 'pumping stronger' after stem cell therapy
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Loading... - Zach Jackson
- 01 Mar 2023
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Researchers have tried for decades to use stem cells to restore a damaged heart.
A new study shows they still haven't succeeded, but it offers the first glimmers of hope for heart disease, which is blamed for about 1 in 5 deaths in the United States, killing nearly 700,000 people a year.
The trial, by the Texas Heart Institute, showed that a one-time treatment of cells didn't keep heart failure patients out of the hospital. But it dramatically reduced the risk of stroke or recurrent heart attack for the nearly three years of the study, particularly among people who also had high levels of inflammation.
"At a year, the hearts were pumping stronger," said Dr. Emerson Perin, who led the research.
While he will have to conduct another clinical trial before winning approval for his approach, he has a path forward, Perin said.
"I now have the recipe," he said. "I know who I have to give (the cells) to, how I have to give them and in what dose."
What are stem cells?
Stem cells are cells that can turn into a variety of other cells.
Every person arises from the combination of an egg and a sperm. Once fused, this combination of cells divides repeatedly, leading to every other cell in the body, from brain to gut cells.
Early cells with the ability to become every other cell are called "embryonic stem cells." Read More…
