America
Indian-American leading trials to repair dead heart muscle
Washington, Sep 20
An Indian-American
researcher is leading clinical trials on an experimental technology that
might be able to repair dead heart muscle, or even reverse heart
failure, a media report said.
"The doctors say: 'We'll give you
the beta-blocker, aspirin and the Lipitor and we can just hope to
maintain you' ... but short of them getting worse or getting a heart
transplant, there's not too many options," said Amit Patel, an associate
professor in the division of cardiothoracic surgery at the University
of Utah School of Medicine, Deseret News reported on Saturday.
The
procedure in Patel's phase 1 Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
clinical trials include mixing the "extracellular matrix" powder -- a
mixture of proteins and molecules isolated from heart muscle -- with
saline or water, injecting the mixture into the patient's dead heart
muscle, and waiting three-to-six months to see if the patient's heart
muscle regenerates.
It may sound like something out of
"Frankenstein", said Tim Henry, the director of cardiology at the
Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, "but the technology -- inspired by stem
cell research -- is within our reach".
"(Patel) is clearly one of the most experienced stem cell people in the country," Henry was quoted as saying.
Scientists
have been trying stem cell therapy and gene therapy to stop the
degeneration of heart function that occurs after a massive heart
attack, but they haven't been much good at reviving completely dead scar
tissue, Patel said.
If the clinical trials are proven
successful, the therapy would likely also be cheaper than either stem
cells or gene therapy, according to Pate