Where in the U.S can I find a Stem Cell clinic that performs implantation to treat cardiac patients?

Answer 1

Your best bet would be hospitals that excel in cardiology/cardiiovascular services like the ff:
1. Cleveland Clinic
2. Texas Heart Institute of St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas

Here is a copy of their article below:

Texas Heart Institute Physicians and Scientists
Discuss Advances in Stem Cell Research

HOUSTON (May 7, 2002) - Physicians and scientists at the Texas Heart Institute are extending stem cell research from the laboratory to the clinical setting in their ongoing effort to find effective treatments for heart failure and end-stage heart disease. They discussed their activities today in a news conference.

To date, ten patients have received the stem cell treatment developed at the Texas Heart Institute. In a collaborative effort with colleagues in Brazil, four patients in South America initially received the stem cell treatment in December. Another six patients received the treatment in late April. Five patients are in the control group. This is believed to be the largest cardiovascular stem cell study group in the world.

“Clearly this is a work in progress and it’s still very early in the process,” cautions James T. Willerson, M.D., medical director and director of cardiology research at the Texas Heart Institute, and president of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “We were fortunate several months ago to have the opportunity to begin this critical next step in the research process. Still, we need larger numbers of patients in both treatment and control groups. Although we are encouraged and optimistic, we have no firm conclusions at this time.”

On the basic research level, Dr. Willerson and Yong J. Geng, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the Texas Heart Institute’s Heart Failure Laboratory, have been evaluating the treatment using embryonic canine stem cells which develop into cardiovascular stem cells. In the animal model, the research team has found the treatment results in a 30% reduction in scar tissue within the first two weeks.

The goal of the treatment is to replace damaged heart muscle cells and to promote the growth of new blood vessels to supply oxygen to damaged heart muscle. It is Dr. Willerson’s long term hope that the stem cells eventually can be used as vectors to deliver new genes which may also assist in the healing of the heart in a dual therapeutic approach.

The stem cells used in the clinical treatment are harvested from the patient’s own bone marrow. While doctors say it is not necessarily the best option, there are advantages in that the stem cells are obtained at minimal cost and the patient has no rejection issues. It also keeps the scientists within the regulatory boundaries of stem cell research mandated in the U.S.

“When we harvest the bone marrow, we can select out the population of stem cells that we expect will develop into the physiological structures that we want. We process the bone marrow cells for about three hours and then inject them into the heart,” explains Emerson Perin, M.D., director of New Interventional Cardiovascular Technology at the Texas Heart Institute, who is performing the clinical procedures in Brazil.

Finding the best way to deliver the stem cells to damaged hearts is part of the process under investigation. In order to do that, the research team uses the NOGA electromechanical mapping system (Cordis – Miami Lakes, Fl.). Purchased three years ago for diagnostic purposes, the technology was considered too invasive for widespread use. However, the technology is ideal for use in stem cell transplantation.

By entering the body through a tiny incision near the groin, doctors can thread a catheter into the left ventricle, measure electrical and motion capabilities of the heart, and pinpoint damaged or weakened areas of the muscle. The same catheter used to navigate the ventricle can then be used to deliver stem cells to those damaged areas.

“The process is somewhat like a video game. The NOGA gives us a real-time, three-dimensional, color-coded image so we can target the treatment sites within a millimeter of precision,” says Dr. Perin.

The doctors use a number of parameters and algorithms to verify placement before they begin the stem cell injections. Although only a tiny quantity is injected into the heart muscle, that injection contains millions of stem cells.

“We expect to publish initial results of the experimental therapy in the next six months. We hope the investigational treatment will become available to patients here by the end of the year,” says Dr. Perin.

3. UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas,Texas - wherein they have a Stem Cell Initiative faculty.

Answer 2

that's the reason i think of the human beings on Jon & Kate Plus 8 are hilarious. They used in vitro fertilization and have been given pregnant with 7 infants and refused to do a selective relief on account that wasn't area of God's plan. properly, perhaps God's plan wasn't which you would be able to apply unnatural counsel on the thank you to get pregnant. I agree - you are able to no longer have it the two methods. EDIT: i in my opinion do no longer care if human beings bypass to fertility clinics or abortion clinics and that i'm for using stem cells in examine. I only think of which you would be able to no longer use God as a get-out-of-reformatory loose card on one component yet no longer the different.

Answer 3

I have looked and only found a few trials that have been done - with very interesting results, but I don't think anyone is doing it as a regular procedure yet. I have heart failure and would sure like to have it done too, see if some of this old heart could regenerate.

Answer 4

Stem cell production is a natural function. all you need are glyconutrients. Safe, natural and a hell of a lot cheaper.

info on my page.

Answer 5

That is a moot question, as the research has not gone far enough to actually treat any illness on humans.....