Small Trial Shows Stem Cells Reversing Heart Damage
Monday, March 21, 2011
By: Euna Lhee, HealthyState.org

March 21, 2011 | WMFE - Adult stem cells may improve and even reverse heart damage in patients with heart failure. That's according to a small clinical trial from the University of Miami.

University of Miami researchers gave stem cell injections to eight patients, whose hearts were swollen because of previous heart attacks. The procedure reduced all of their heart sizes, improving their ability to pump blood throughout the body.

UM researcher Joshua Hare said this is the first time scientists have seen these results.

"This is our first report that the adult stem cells worked to reverse at least some of the damage, some of this permanent injury, that people have had to their hearts," Hare said.

The findings were published in the journal Circulation Research. Hare said this is the first of many studies and that it will be years before the procedure could get FDA approval.