German physicians have exciting preliminary results from transplanting bone marrow around the hearts of patients who have suffered heart attacks within the past 27 months. Eighteen patients who reported heart attacks had bone marrow extracted from their own bones, and transplanted the next day. Eighteen patients with similar heart damage did not have the procedure.Three months later, the patients who had had the blood marrow cell transplants had significantly reduced heart sizes and improved heart functions, compared to the control group.
The physicians believe the bone marrow cells lead to heart regeneration, and noted that this study could have strong implications for stem cell research as well.
1. Could this be because of a release of stem cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream?
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine...
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/353/10/999
mentions that stem cell count in an excellent determining factor for cardiovascular health.
Posted at 9:28AM on Nov 15th 2005 by Stemtech