One of their favorites was the hymn "Old Hebron", and they decided it would be a good name for their community. Friends and neighbors would gather at her house on Sundays to share a meal and sing. When you participate in a study performed at a state-of-the-art heart center, even if you end up in the placebo arm of a study (meaning that you're getting an inactive therapy instead of a real treatment), you'll still ensure that you're getting first-rate care.First settled by farmers in 1836, Hebron was named by the first white woman settler in the area. If you've had a heart attack or you have heart failure and you're interested in participating in a study of stem cell therapy, visitĪnd search for studies in your area (for example, search "stem cells," "heart," "Los Angeles"). "And then there are others who feel that there is much more work to be done."Īs of now, stem cell therapy is available only to people who participate in a research trial. When might stem cell therapy become a standard treatment for damaged heart muscle? "Some investigators think this is just a few years away," says Dr. More long-term trials are needed to identify the role stem cell therapy will have in treating heart disease. "Most of the stem cell therapies for the heart have been surprisingly safe, but long-term effects are still a concern," says Dr. So far, side effects haven't been a major issue, though, and that has encouraged investigators to push onward. And if the injected cells can't communicate with the heart's finely tuned electrical system, they may produce dangerous heart rhythms (arrhythmias). If the stem cells are taken from an unrelated donor, the body's immune system may reject them. Like any other therapy, injecting stem cells into the heart can fail or cause side effects. Once in place, stem cells help regenerate damaged heart tissue. The stem cells, which are often taken from bone marrow, may be inserted into the heart using a catheter. Several different types of approaches are being used to repair damaged heart muscle with stem cells. It's not clear which approach is the most promising. Some stem cells are taken from the bone marrow of donors, others from the patient's own heart. Studies are producing such varied outcomes in part because researchers are taking different approaches to harvesting and using stem cells. "We're waiting to see if other doctors can also achieve really good results in other patients." Some studies show only modest or no improvement in heart function, but others have shown dramatically improved function," he says. Richard Lee, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a leading expert on stem cell therapy. These results sound dramatic, but are they an indication that we're getting close to perfecting this therapy? "This is a field where, depending on which investigator you ask, you can get incredibly different answers," says Dr. A year after the procedure, the amount of scar tissue had shrunk by about 50%. In a study published last February in The Lancet, researchers treated 17 heart attack patients with an infusion of stem cells taken from their own hearts. People who have had a heart attack therefore may face a lifetime of maintenance therapy-medications and other treatments aimed at preventing another heart attack and helping the heart work more efficiently.Ī new treatment using stem cells-which have the potential to grow into a variety of heart cell types-could potentially repair and regenerate damaged heart tissue. Though the heart is a tough organ, the damaged portions become unable to pump blood as efficiently as they once could. Over time, this damage can lead to heart failure, especially when one heart attack comes after another. Without blood, the area of heart fed by the affected artery begins to die and scar tissue forms in the area. During a heart attack, that blood flow is interrupted by a blockage in an artery. The heart muscle relies on a steady flow of oxygen-rich blood to nourish it and keep it pumping. Could this experimental treatment reverse damage caused by a heart attack?
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