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Stem cells could heal hearts
Alex Stephens, Evening Standard24 Apr 2008
Pioneering stem cell treatment could "turn the clock back" for heart attack victims by repairing damaged tissue, a doctor revealed today.
Two heart attack victims have already undergone the process, which involves taking a small amount of the patient's bone marrow and injecting it into their arteries within hours of the attack.
The stem cells, taken from the lower back under local anaesthetic, are purified before being "infused". It is thought they can rejuvenate or replace damaged cells, restoring a healthy heart.
Dr Anthony Mathur, senior lecturer and consultant cardiologist at Barts and the London NHS Trust, said: "It's about using the patient's own cells to see if they can repair the damage. The dream is to turn the clock back - to restore heart function to what it was before the heart attack."
Dr Mathur, who designed the experiment-with Professor John Martin, British Heart Foundation chair in cardiovascular sciences at University College London, said the procedure could completely restore quality of life.
If successful, it will allow patients to return to work quickly, without the need to take tablets for the rest of their lives.
The stem cells are injected after angioplasty, in which arteries are opened with a balloon under local anaesthetic.
Opening arteries in such a way decreases damage to the heart muscle, damage which can lead to heart failure, leaving patients breathless, lethargic and often housebound.
Doctors aim to make the stem cell infusion in a "window of opportunity" between four and 12 hours after the attack.
Dr Mathur said the ability to carry out angioplasty and stem cell infusions was helped by the creation of specialist heart attack centres, where ambulance crews are being trained to take patients after carrying out heart tracing.
The two men, including a 39-year-old, were both treated about a week ago at the London Heart Hospital and UCL Heart Hospital.
Dr Mathur said the men were "treated safely" and had been able to return home without a prolonged hospital stay but it is too early to judge the success of the operations.
He is hoping to have the final results within two years, after 100 patients have been treated.
The £1.2 million project is supported by the UK Stem Cell Foundation.
Half the patients will be given a placebo as a control and Dr Mathur did not know whether either of the two patients had received the saltwater substitute.
He said about 1,000 patients around the world had been treated with stem cells but the results had not been as good as those seen in animal experiments.
He said: "The other studies weren't giving the cells back early enough. We're trying to see if giving them back quickly can lead to dramatic improvements."
Every year more than 100,000 people in the UK die of heart disease.
