New Stem Cell Study Examines Exact Use In Regenerating Damaged Cardiac Tissue
October 9, 2007 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
On October 3rd, University of Florida doctors treated their first patient in a new study that is evaluating stem cells and their exact role in regenerating blood flow to the heart. They are testing this new and experimental procedure in patients that continue to live with angina and severe heart disease despite all attempts of medicines and other treatments. Just how will the stem cells work?
“The general idea is that by providing these cells of blood vessel origin, we hope to either generate new blood vessels from the growth of these implanted cells or stimulate the heart to regenerate new blood vessels from the cells that reside in it,” said study investigator Carl J. Pepine, M.D., chief of cardiovascular medicine at UF’s College of Medicine. “It’s not completely clear whether it’s the actual cell itself that would do this or whether it’s just the milieu and the chemical signals that occur from the cells that would result in this.”
University of Florida is one of 20 research sites that is testing about 150 patients, which is not that many! They will use the stem cells from patients bone marrow and not harvested from their blood. Time will tell, but this stem cell thing is really so amazing. I know all the ethical dilemmas that surround the term “stem cells”, but just imagine what they could do for so many chronic disease process’ in the near future.
via Science Daily/University of Florida
