A groundbreaking medical breakthrough has led to a woman being kept alive long enough to receive a heart transplant by implanting tiny patches of lab-grown heart muscle cells into her failing heart.
A 46-year-old woman with severe heart failure was awaiting a transplant when she underwent an experimental stem-cell procedure as part of a clinical trial. The patient received 10 patches of heart tissue, each comprised of about 400 million heart cells, which were grown from stem cells in a lab and implanted into her heart during surgery.
The patches stabilized the woman’s heart, keeping her alive for three months until she could receive a donor heart transplant. The new technology has shown promise as it provides a laboratory-grown biological transplant that can potentially stabilize and strengthen the heart muscle.
This innovation is a significant breakthrough in treating heart failure, which affects over 6.7 million adults in the US. The current limited availability of donor hearts makes traditional transplants challenging. However, this new approach could supplement these limitations by providing an alternative option for patients with severe heart failure.
Researchers have previously tested similar patches on rhesus macaque monkeys and achieved successful results, demonstrating that the grafts can promote thicker heart walls and improved blood flow without causing rejection or tumors. The human trial has also shown promising outcomes, with minuscule blood vessels forming in the implanted patches.
The eventual goal of this technology is to enable patients with severe heart failure to stay alive for long enough to receive a donor heart transplant. While it’s not intended as a complete alternative to transplants, this innovative approach holds great promise for improving patient care and outcomes.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/health/heart-circulation/breakthrough-stem-cell-patches-stablized-womans-heart-as-she-awaited-transplant