Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Who Would Have Thought; Using Your Own Heart Cells Could Help Repair It?

Ok, enough with the sarcasm, this is actually good news. Researchers have figured a way to use stem cells from your own heart muscle, to help your heart to develop new heart cells after a heart attack. In fact, this will lessen the scars that people have after suffering a myocardial infarction (heart attack). They found that the average patient treated in this manner, lessened their scarring from 24% of the heart, to 12% of the heart. Approximately a 50% reduction in scar size. This took one year of treatment and healing of course.

This news challenges the held belief that once tissue of the heart was lost, it was gone permanently and the scarring was there to stay. Apparently, that has changed, not just in theory, but in applied reality as well. The technology is currently under application of a patent and may soon become a regular treatment option. No timetable has been set, but that still doesn't take into account the good news.

Extra, Extra, Read ALL ABOUT IT:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120213185441.htm

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