From: xgl (xli03@emory.edu)
Date: Wed May 30 2001 - 08:54:18 MDT
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 5:00:24 PDT
From: AP <C-ap@clari.net>
Subject: MD Puts Arm Muscle Cells Into Heart
Researchers have implanted arm muscle cells into a man's diseased heart
in what they say is the first such U.S. attempt to restore damaged
tissue and avoid a transplant.
The technique has been tried successfully in animals and in safety
trials involving three human patients who received the injections as
part of a procedure in which a small pump helped keep a heart beating
until a transplant became available.
But the latest procedure at the University of California at Los Angeles
marked the first time in the United States the procedure was performed
with the goal of helping a heart recover, not stabilizing it until a
substitute was found, said Dr. Doris Taylor of Duke University, who is
planning similar clinical trials.
"This is the first time we actually have a hope for recovery ... "
Taylor said. "We might be able to regain lost heart function, which
would improve the quality and quantity of life."
"The implications are profound," said Dr. Mark Sussman of the
Children"s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati. "The challenge now is
to find out just how well these cells can perform new tricks in their
new homes."
On Tuesday UCLA officials identified the patient undergoing the new
technique as Edward Cooper, a former Santa Ana city attorney who is now
retired and living in Laughlin, Nev.
Cooper suffered heart attacks in 1977 and 1984, and recently found
breathing more difficult and suffered chest pains. His heart was
beating with only about one-quarter of its normal power.
In late April, doctors removed a small amount of tissue from Cooper's
left bicep and scientists grew the tissue into hundreds of millions of
cells. Unlike heart muscle cells, arm muscle cells can replicate.
Dr. Fardad Esmailian of UCLA then performed a quadruple bypass on
Cooper on May 11 and injected the muscle cells into the back wall of
Cooper's heart, which was severely scarred. The injection took about
three minutes.
Cooper returned to UCLA on Tuesday for his first checkup and said he
breathes easily, has no chest pain and can climb stairs.
"I feel wonderful today," he said.
The bypass, and not the muscle implant, have improved Cooper's health,
said Dr. Robb MacLellan, the principal investigator of the UCLA study.
It will take several months before researchers can determine whether
the new cells have strengthened the heart and increased the power of
the heart's beating as well, he said.
The UCLA team plans to perform the procedure on 12 patients in the
first phase of its clinical trials. If no adverse effects are observed,
the study will be expanded.
A similar procedure using thigh muscle cells was performed in France
last year.
Dr. Philippe Menasche of Hospital Bichat in Paris reported in November
that cells were taken from a 72-year-old man's thigh, grown in a lab
and injected into the man's heart during a bypass operation.
------
On the Net:
http://www.diacrin.com/uclarelease.htm
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:07:50 MST