Heart Patient Gets First Shot At Stem Cell Repairs
(Los Angeles, CA) -- It may now be possible to successfully re-grow a piece of the human heart in a petri dish. Doctors at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles last week infused a 39-year-old heart attack victim with his own stem cells. CBS News reports Ken Milles [[ MIL-LIS ]] is the first of 24 people in a clinical trial to get the infusion that will push the boundaries of stem cell research. Milles had a serious heart attack in mid-May that damaged his ticker. Doctors used tiny pincers to clip bits of healthy tissue from his heart, which were then sent to a laboratory. Over the course of four-to-six weeks, the cells were coaxed into dividing into tens of millions of stem cells. The stem cells in turn began to cluster and start beating on their own in the dish. Last week, doctors sent some of those cells back into the damaged region of Milles' heart. He'll have to wait about six months or so to see if his lab-grown replacement parts are doing the trick. |