Recent research has found that delivering fat cells from the waist into the heart could offer promising results for heart attack patients. A pilot study showed increased heart function in post-heart attack patients who had fat cells extracted from their waistlines and transported to their hearts.
This study included 14 patients in the Netherlands and Spain who had all suffered from severe heart attacks. Ten of the 14 patients were given stem cells from waist fat while the other four were given placebo treatments. Six months later, patients who had received the stem cells were found to have lower amounts of heart damage than those who did not - only 15% damage in the stem cell group as compared to 25% damage in the placebo group.
“The pilot study shows for the first time that stem cells from a patient’s fat tissue may be similarly beneficial (as stem cells extracted from bone marrow), indicating a potential new and more convenient source of stem cells,” Professor Jeremy Pearson of the British Heart Foundation said.
Researchers realize a much larger sample size is needed in order to gather statistically significant data. And so they are planning a more detailed study which will contain 300 heart attack patients throughout 35 European clinics.
No comments:
Post a Comment