{"id":222,"date":"2016-03-22T19:27:45","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T19:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edrugstore.md\/blog\/?p=222"},"modified":"2011-03-24T14:39:17","modified_gmt":"2011-03-24T14:39:17","slug":"stem-cells-help-heart-l0322","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/stem-cells-help-heart-l0322\/","title":{"rendered":"Stem cells show promise in fixing heart problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Doctors at University of Miami say they could be getting close to a medical breakthrough.<\/p>\n

After the first round of testing, cardiologists believe stem cells may be able to help patients after a heart attack.<\/p>\n

In a recent study, stem cells were taken from eight patients that had suffered a heart attack at least four months earlier.\u00a0 The participants, which were all men, had an average age of 57 years old.\u00a0 Like many patients dealing with heart problems, their body\u2019s main organ was swollen and had scaring.\u00a0 Doctors took bone marrow from each patient and injected the stem cells from the marrow into their hearts using catheters.\u00a0 The hope was to reduce swelling and heal scars.<\/p>\n

The idea worked.\u00a0 The patient\u2019s hearts reduced in size by 25%, something current medication cannot do.\u00a0 Prescription drugs have only been able to shrink the heart by 5%.<\/p>\n

On top of that, within three months doctors noticed the scars were beginning to heal.\u00a0 Some of the stems cells transformed into heart cells, turning the scarred tissue into functioning parts of the heart once again.<\/p>\n

Doctors believe this is the first step of many to bring the treatment to mainstream medicine.\u00a0 While none of the eight patients had serious side effects, more studies need to be done.<\/p>\n

Still, the study is gaining attention.\u00a0 It was published in the American Heath Association’s Journal: Circulation Research and has piqued the interest of patients and doctors alike.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Several more trials are already being arranged.\u00a0 The next study will explore donor marrow, to see if that can work just as efficiently as the patient\u2019s own marrow.\u00a0 The Miami cardiologists will then branch out and work with up to 100 hospitals to continue testing the treatment.\u00a0 The final stage will be the approval of the Food and Drug Administration, which researchers say is at least five years away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Doctors at University of Miami say they could be getting close to a medical breakthrough. After the first round of testing, cardiologists believe stem cells may be able to help patients after a heart attack. In a recent study, stem cells were taken from eight patients that had suffered a heart attack at least four […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t