Thursday, March 12, 2015
Click for video:
http://6abc.com/health/temple-tests-stem-cells-for-heart-failure/555878/
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Heart disease takes a big toll on its sufferers, robbing them of their energy and quality of life.
There are medications to manage heart failure, but the heart muscle really never improves.
They may be able to regain some of their vitality, if a trial underway at Temple University Hospital is successful.
It uses the body's own power to regenerate itself.
---
These days, it's hard to keep up with Robert Parks of Island Heights, New Jersey, when he walks down the hall.
It's a big change from the slow decline he had been on for the past 17 years.
It all began when he got sick on a business trip -
"The next thing I knew I was in the ambulance," recalls Parks.
Parks had suffered a major heart attack.
"The left side of my heart, all the muscles were gone," he says.
He recovered somewhat, though wasn't back to normal. And he couldn't drive, something essential to his job as an equipment sales representative.
"My wife drove me around all summer," he says.
And after three more heart attacks, his heart was very weak and he was in heart failure.
"I couldn't bend over without huffing & puffing," Parks says.
So just before Christmas, Parks enrolled in a study to see if his own stem cells could improve blood flow.
Dr. Jon George of Temple University Hospital says doctors no longer think damaged heart muscle is dead forever.
"We've learned that you can actually regenerate part of the heart muscle," says Dr. George.
Doctors have experimented with the use of stem cells for heart failure for a decade. But the delivery methods never got them to where they needed to be.
"We learned that injecting through an I-V causes the cells to get stuck in the liver and lungs, which are filter systems for these large cells," says Dr. George.
Doctors also tried injections directly into the coronary arteries, the heart's direct blood supply.
"These cells don't stay where they need to stay," says Dr. George. "They just get washed out."
"The technique we're using is very specific and targeted," he notes.
In this trial, stem cells extracted from bone marrow are multiplied, then injected into muscle inside the heart.
The targets are determined with a sophisticated 3-D mapping system called NOGA.
Pointing to images of the heart on a laptop, Dr. George says, "The purple color shows that you have a normal functioning heart, and as you dip down into the red, that is dead heart muscle."
"You see the border where the injections of the stem cells are performed," he continues.
The hope is those cells will spark the growth of new blood vessels, regenerating the muscle.
Half of the volunteers in the study get stem cells, while the other half get a placebo, or dummy treatment.
Neither patient nor doctor will know till the trial is over, but Parks thinks he got the real deal.
"I'm doing things I haven't done in months," he says with a big grin.
Patients like Robert Parks will be followed closely to see if their heart function improves, if they have fewer hospital stays, and if their quality of life improves.
Temple is the only local site for the trial. For more information, call Jennie Wong, R.N. at 215-707-5340.
LINK: Templehealth.org
Click for video:
http://6abc.com/health/temple-tests-stem-cells-for-heart-failure/555878/
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Heart disease takes a big toll on its sufferers, robbing them of their energy and quality of life.
There are medications to manage heart failure, but the heart muscle really never improves.
They may be able to regain some of their vitality, if a trial underway at Temple University Hospital is successful.
It uses the body's own power to regenerate itself.
---
These days, it's hard to keep up with Robert Parks of Island Heights, New Jersey, when he walks down the hall.
It's a big change from the slow decline he had been on for the past 17 years.
It all began when he got sick on a business trip -
"The next thing I knew I was in the ambulance," recalls Parks.
Parks had suffered a major heart attack.
"The left side of my heart, all the muscles were gone," he says.
He recovered somewhat, though wasn't back to normal. And he couldn't drive, something essential to his job as an equipment sales representative.
"My wife drove me around all summer," he says.
And after three more heart attacks, his heart was very weak and he was in heart failure.
"I couldn't bend over without huffing & puffing," Parks says.
So just before Christmas, Parks enrolled in a study to see if his own stem cells could improve blood flow.
Dr. Jon George of Temple University Hospital says doctors no longer think damaged heart muscle is dead forever.
"We've learned that you can actually regenerate part of the heart muscle," says Dr. George.
Doctors have experimented with the use of stem cells for heart failure for a decade. But the delivery methods never got them to where they needed to be.
"We learned that injecting through an I-V causes the cells to get stuck in the liver and lungs, which are filter systems for these large cells," says Dr. George.
Doctors also tried injections directly into the coronary arteries, the heart's direct blood supply.
"These cells don't stay where they need to stay," says Dr. George. "They just get washed out."
"The technique we're using is very specific and targeted," he notes.
In this trial, stem cells extracted from bone marrow are multiplied, then injected into muscle inside the heart.
The targets are determined with a sophisticated 3-D mapping system called NOGA.
Pointing to images of the heart on a laptop, Dr. George says, "The purple color shows that you have a normal functioning heart, and as you dip down into the red, that is dead heart muscle."
"You see the border where the injections of the stem cells are performed," he continues.
The hope is those cells will spark the growth of new blood vessels, regenerating the muscle.
Half of the volunteers in the study get stem cells, while the other half get a placebo, or dummy treatment.
Neither patient nor doctor will know till the trial is over, but Parks thinks he got the real deal.
"I'm doing things I haven't done in months," he says with a big grin.
Patients like Robert Parks will be followed closely to see if their heart function improves, if they have fewer hospital stays, and if their quality of life improves.
Temple is the only local site for the trial. For more information, call Jennie Wong, R.N. at 215-707-5340.
LINK: Templehealth.org