Updated: MARCH 8, 2016
by Tom Avril, Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/Testing-stem-cells-to-repair-damaged-hearts.html
Temple University Hospital is among more than 100 sites planning to administer a type of adult stem cells to patients with heart failure, in hopes that the cells will help the damaged organs to heal themselves.
Researchers have tested a variety of stem cells to heal damaged hearts in animal studies, but so far success in humans has been mixed.
Participants in the new trial must have chronic heart failure due to a condition called left ventricular systolic dysfunction, meaning the heart's left ventricle has lost the ability to contract normally.
Patients will be randomly assigned to two groups. Those in one group get injections of a placebo, while those in the other group receive a type of donor stem cell called allogeneic mesenchymal precursor cells.
The hope is that they can develop into heart cells with the ability to contract.
The DREAM-HF trial is sponsored by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Temple has some patients enrolled already, and is aiming for a total of 10 to 15, hospital officials said.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/Testing-stem-cells-to-repair-damaged-hearts.html#PvU4qizJbzI5cyuV.99
by Tom Avril, Inquirer Staff Writer
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/Testing-stem-cells-to-repair-damaged-hearts.html
Temple University Hospital is among more than 100 sites planning to administer a type of adult stem cells to patients with heart failure, in hopes that the cells will help the damaged organs to heal themselves.
Researchers have tested a variety of stem cells to heal damaged hearts in animal studies, but so far success in humans has been mixed.
Participants in the new trial must have chronic heart failure due to a condition called left ventricular systolic dysfunction, meaning the heart's left ventricle has lost the ability to contract normally.
Patients will be randomly assigned to two groups. Those in one group get injections of a placebo, while those in the other group receive a type of donor stem cell called allogeneic mesenchymal precursor cells.
The hope is that they can develop into heart cells with the ability to contract.
The DREAM-HF trial is sponsored by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Temple has some patients enrolled already, and is aiming for a total of 10 to 15, hospital officials said.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthcare/Testing-stem-cells-to-repair-damaged-hearts.html#PvU4qizJbzI5cyuV.99