Doctors in the UK are preparing to begin a study to see whether injecting stem cells harvested from a patient's bone marrow can repair the damage on heart muscle inflicted by a heart attack. The injections will be given within five hours of a heart attack, a critical period in the eyes of investigators. Doctors will recruit 100 patients for the procedure, which will also include angioplasty to clear blocked arteries--a standard therapy in these cases. Earlier studies have demonstrated that injecting the stem cells into patients is a safe procedure and there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that stem cell therapy for tissue repair may eventually become common for heart attack victims. Researchers emphasize that they're simply looking to examine how patients respond, noting that approved therapies may still be some time away.
- check out the report on the research project from The Times
ALSO: Investigators say that injecting adult stem cells into specially engineered mice induce a group of them to start producing insulin. The theory is that injecting bone marrow stem cells into people will repair their pancreas, allowing them to make insulin. Report