Researchers to use patient's own stem cells to treat heart failure
November 17, 2008Researchers at the University of Utah are enrolling people in a new clinical trial that uses a patient's own stem cells to treat ischemic and non-ischemic heart failure.
The one-year Cardiac Repair Cell Treatment of Patients with Dilated Cardiomyopathy (IMPACT-DCM) study will look at the safety of injecting Cardiac Repair Cells (CRC) and their ability to improve heart function.
Patients enrolled in IMPACT-DCM will have their own bone marrow cells drawn (about 3 tablespoons worth), which will then be grown in a culture to expand the number of cells that will help the heart muscle and improve blood flow. Two weeks later, the patient's stem cells will be injected directly into the left ventricle of the heart during a minimally invasive surgery developed by Amit N. Patel, M.D., national principal investigator for the IMPACT-DCM trial and director of cardiovascular regenerative medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
"Heart failure affects about 5 million Americans, with more than half a million new cases diagnosed each year. A subset of these patients has dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a condition that leaves the heart weakened, enlarged and unable to pump blood efficiently. For most of these patients, the only option has been a heart transplant," said David A. Bull, M.D., professor and division chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the U's medical school and site principal investigator for the trial.
"This is the first trial of its kind in the United States, providing patients who have limited to no other options with a viable treatment," said Patel, professor of surgery. "By using a patient's own cells, we eliminate the concern of rejection and the need for potentially harmful immunosuppressive drugs. We hope these cells will help with new blood vessels and support the heart muscle in order to improve the heart's function, thereby greatly improving the patient's quality of life."
Patients who have been diagnosed with congestive heart failure (NYHA Class 3 or 4) and are between the ages of 18 and 86 may be eligible to participate in the trial. The University of Utah is one of five nationwide sites conducting the IMPACT-DCM study, sponsored by Aastrom Biosciences, Inc., a company specializing in autologous cell products. IMPACT-DCM is a randomized, controlled, Phase II study that will enroll 40 patients nationwide: 20 patients with ischemic DCM and 20 patients with nonischemic DCM.
Source: University of Utah Health Sciences
-
Joint patent for using the BRCA1 gene as a therapy for cardiovascular disease
11 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
-
Three 'targeted' cancer drugs raise risk of fatal side effects
Feb 06, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Heart hormone helps shape fat metabolism
Feb 06, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
-
The Medical Minute: Stress tests - echo vs. nuclear
Feb 08, 2012 |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Neuroscientists link brain-wave pattern to energy consumption
Feb 08, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Is Everyday Technology Killing Us?
Feb 08, 2012
-
Exercise and weight loss
Feb 08, 2012
-
Why do we have head aches? Our brains can't feel anything.
Feb 07, 2012
-
"The end of diseases" by David Agus, interview from Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Feb 04, 2012
-
Oncolytic adenovirus
Feb 04, 2012
-
Nutrition label stuffs and diets
Feb 02, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences
More news stories
Complex wiring of the nervous system may rely on a just a handful of genes and proteins
Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a startling feature of early brain development that helps to explain how complex neuron wiring patterns are programmed using just a handful of critical genes. ...
5 hours ago |
5 / 5 (7) |
0
|
Both maternal and paternal age linked to autism
Older maternal and paternal age are jointly associated with having a child with autism, according to a recently published study led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
9 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
|
New understanding of DNA repair could eventually lead to cancer therapy
A research group in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta is hoping its latest discovery could one day be used to develop new therapies that target certain types of cancers.
9 hours ago |
4.8 / 5 (4) |
0
|
Curry spice component may help slow prostate tumor growth
Curcumin, an active component of the Indian curry spice turmeric, may help slow down tumor growth in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a study from researchers ...
10 hours ago |
4.5 / 5 (6) |
0
|
Human cognitive performance suffers following natural disasters, researchers find
Not surprisingly, victims of a natural disaster can experience stress and anxiety, but a new study indicates that it might also cause them to make more errors - some serious - in their daily lives. In their upcoming Human Fa ...
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
6 hours ago |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
Google users warned of threat to smartphone wallets
Users of Google smartphone wallets were being warned on Friday that there is a way to crack pass codes intended to thwart thieves from going on illicit shopping sprees.
Anonymous knocks CIA website offline (Update)
The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was inaccessible on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline.
New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission
Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. Theyre a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel such as an optical fiber o ...
The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...
Putting the squeeze on planets outside our solar system
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using high-powered lasers, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and collaborators discovered that molten magnesium silicate undergoes a phase change in the liquid state, abruptly ...
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...