Source: University of Utah Health Sciences
Date: November 17, 2008
Summary:
Researchers at the University of Utah are enrolling people in a new clinical trial that uses a patient's own stem cells to treat ischemic and non-ischemic heart failure. Patients enrolled in IMPACT-DCM will have their own bone marrow cells drawn (about 3 tablespoons worth), which will then be grown in a culture to expand the number of cells that will help the heart muscle and improve blood flow. Two weeks later, the patient's stem cells will be injected directly into the left ventricle of the heart during a minimally invasive surgery developed by Amit N. Patel, M.D., national principal investigator for the IMPACT-DCM trial and director of cardiovascular regenerative medicine at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
