Optimism over stem cells for damaged hearts Study suggests
treatment helps patients who have had heart attacks For years it
was thought that most damage from a major heart attack was
permanent: Dead tissue turns to scar tissue, leading to the
heart muscle's gradual deterioration. But now, there is growing
optimism that stem cell therapy may help patients with damaged
hearts return to a fully functional life, based on results from
early studies. Of course, larger studies have to confirm the
results and the devil is in the details. Those details were on
display in a series of five presentations Tuesday at the
American Heart Association conference in Los Angeles. Most
promising was long-term data on 20 patients with severe, long-
term heart failure stemming from past heart attacks. These
patients not only improved dramatically after receiving an
infusion of their own heart stem cells, but continued to get
better two full years after treatment. "That's from just one
injection of these cells," says Dr. Roberto Boll