Adipose tissue stem cells taken from around the patient’s waist can be used to treat a heart attack, reports BBC News-Health.
Pilot studies in the Netherlands and Spain involving 14 patients showed that stem cells obtained from adipose tissue and inserted into the heart muscle improve heart function after a severe heart attack.
Adipose tissue cells were collected from the patients by liposuction – sucking fat from the abdomen. The resulting stem cells were then introduced into the heart within 24 hours. 10 patients were given real stem cells, and the remaining 4 were treated with a sham treatment.
After six months, patients treated with stem cells had fewer damaged cells of the heart muscle tissue (15%) than those in the control group (25%).
According to the head of the work, prof. Eric Duckers from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the method may be useful in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. The authors of the study plan to extend it to over 300 patients from 35 European clinics (PAP).