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Stem Cells Benefit Heart Attack

Heart attack victims recover much more quickly if they are injected with stem cells taken from their own bone marrow. A study of more than 200 patients in Europe found those receiving stem cells had almost twice the improvement in their heart's pumping ability as patients given a placebo.

Researchers from Goethe University in Germany said the new treatment not only limited damage to the heart but also regenerated heart cells. The medications and interventional therapies available so far are intended only to limit further damage to the heart. In contrast, progenitor cell therapy has the potential to limit damage and to regenerate heart function.

The study, presented at the American Heart Association's annual scientific meeting in Dallas, involved 204 heart-attack patients in Germany and Switzerland. The patients underwent normal surgical procedures, such as angioplasty, and several days later received either the stem-cell treatment or a placebo.

The bone marrow stem cells were extracted from patients' hips with a needle and then injected into the patient’s heart. A four-month follow up found the benefits to heart function were most pronounced in patients who had suffered severe heart attacks that resulted in extensive damage to the heart.

In a separate study, researchers from Cornell University revealed an Australian device that measures circulation near the heart can more accurately predict blood pressure than the traditional test performed on the upper arm. Doctors have long known that blood pressure differs between the arm and the heart but there are no invasive tests to measure central aortic pressure.