Allina Health physician says stem cell study shows promising results against heart failure

[HealthDay, May 11, 2012] A new treatment that involves spinning bone marrow stem cells to enhance their healing potential may help people with advanced heart failure feel and function better, a small study suggests.

Researchers developed the treatment by culturing a patient's own bone marrow for 12 days. This process helped increase the amount of immune cells and stem cells that can differentiate into several different cell types, including heart cells. Those cells were then injected into heart muscle.

 

"A number of people with heart failure have slowly progressing disease despite medication and/or device therapy. If we could have a therapy for this group that would slow the progression of heart failure, it would be economic and change the disease process tremendously," said study author Dr. Timothy Henry, director of research and an interventional cardiologist at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. Read more at medicalxpress.com.