Donor Stem Cell Research Shows Promise in Repairing Heart Damage

Stem cells research has always shown promise in a variety of different medical usages. However, now stem cell researchers are discovering that stem cells may show potential in regeneration of damaged body parts, such as the heart muscle.

Doctor Gary Schaer and other medical doctors from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois are giving patients who have suffered heart attacks stem cells from healthy donor hearts. The stem cells are infused into the damaged heart muscle intravenously and almost immediately they seem to zone into the damaged heart and repair or regenerate it.

Research has shown that a person can use their own stem cells to treat their heart failure, however donor stem cell usage is still fairly new but one that shows great promise.

Coronary heart disease or the narrowing of the coronary arteries has been shown to be the number one cause of death in the United States. Basically when the coronary arteries narrow it can cause a person from receiving the appropriate blood supply to the heart muscle thereby resulting in a myocardial infarction or MI. Of all the heart attacks in the United States nearly half are fatal. Deaths commonly occur within less than an hour after the start of heart attack symptoms, with many fatalities occurring before the person every reaches a medical facility.

Pre-existing cardiac conditions such as high blood pressure significantly increase the risk of having a myocardial infarction. Other heart attack risk factors include smoking, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes and a sedimentary lifestyle however many of these conditions and risk factors can be controlled with medications and diet restrictions.

Normally once the heart muscle is damaged in a heart attack there is no way to fix it. Basically when a person has a heart attack part of the heart muscle dies, however the earlier the heart attack can receive appropriate medical care the less damage the heart muscle incurs. In addition patients often wait too long before they receive medical attention, therefore inflicting more damage on the heart muscle. New stem cell research into heart muscle regeneration however may soon change that.

Medical researchers across the United States are studying how adult donor stem cells can possibly repair the heart muscle after an MI. Stem cells are essentially premature cells that can develop and grow into a variety of tissues.

Stem cell research has already shown progress in the use of stem cells to treat heart failure by improving the heart's ability to pump properly. These studies have used the patient's own stem cells, extracted from their hip bones to treat their heart damage. Another significant promising usage for adult healthy donor stem cells is they can be extracted and then frozen for future use. As well as the healthy donor stem cells may possibly help restore the heart muscle function better than that of the own patients stem cells possibly improving the outcome of the regeneration of the heart muscle.

References for this article include: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100528210730.htm
www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/stem-cells/CA00081.html
thefutureofthings.com/news/1004/stem-cells-to-rebuild-heart-tissue.html