Preliminary Trial: Stem Cell Patch Heals a Broken Heart

When a person has a heart attack the heart muscle is damaged and scarred, cells die off and the heart's ability to pump blood is reduced. Until now there hasn't been much anyone can do about that beyond containing the damage and hoping the heart can limp along and continue to do its business with perhaps less vigor. So one can only imagine the intense interest at the annual American Heart Association convention today when researchers from the University of Cincinnati presented the results of an ingenious experiment conducted using a stem-cell infused patch to help repair damage to the heart.

The researchers fashioned the patch with cardiac progenitor cells (stem cells that differentiate into heart muscle cells as they grow) and a couple of other heart-tissue-promoting substances only molecular biologists can fathom. They placed it on (PETA members avert eyes now) lab animals hearts' three days after a heart-attack. One month after the cell patch implantation, echocardiograms were performed to evaluate heart function.

What they found was quite remarkable: The number of heart tissue cells and heart function as a whole significantly increased in animals that received the patch. "Hopefully, one day such treatments will restore cardiac function in patients who have experienced a heart attack, leading to a longer and better quality of life," said lead researcher, Yi-Gang Wang, PhD.

This leads to our latest maxim: Where there's good science, there's always hope for better health.