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Lofty Thought of the Day
- Category: Science & Technology
The Yomiuri Shimbun Kyoto team's successful treatment may make transplants thing of past.
Japanese researchers have for the first time in the nation successfully used stem cells to treat heart disease, opening up the possibility of replacing the need to resort to artificial hearts or transplants. Prof. Hiroaki Matsubara and his team from Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine harvested the stem cells from the patient's heart, used them to grow new heart muscle cells, and replanted them. The patient--Shigeki Yamaguchi from Nagata Ward, Kobe--had been ill with acute heart disease and had suffered a heart attack in February.
More than 1 million people nationwide are believed to suffer from heart disease. "For seriously ill patients, this method may replace the need for heart transplants and artificial hearts," Matsubara said.
In April, Matsubara's team harvested about 15 milligrams of coronary tissue by inserting a thin tube into a blood vessel running from Yamaguchi's groin to his heart.
The team cultivated the stem cells from the tissue and multiplied their number by about 40,000 times in just over a month.
On June 1, the team performed coronary artery bypass surgery. During the operation, the team injected the stem cells into the wall of the left chamber of the heart, where many cells had been dying due to insufficient blood flow. The doctors also attached to the heart wall a five-centimeter by five-centimeter gelatin sheet containing protein to encourage growth and reproduction of the heart muscle cells.
At the time of the surgery, Yamaguchi's condition was so serious that doctors did not expect bypass surgery alone to result in a marked recovery. Before the operation, he had been confined to bed. Since undergoing the procedure, the patient's heart functions have recovered to a level where he has no difficulty going about day-to-day life. .
But two weeks after the operation, his heart was back to pumping at a normal rate and he was able to return to his day-to-day life. He was discharged from the hospital Thursday. The doctors found no adverse side effects, such as an irregular heartbeat, and thus discharged him a month after the operation...MORE...
