Researchers found that using patients’ own cardiac stem cells to repair damaged heart tissue may not only be ineffective but that the stem cells may also develop inflammatory properties that cause further heart damage.
In the United States, around 5.7 million adults are living with heart failure. The condition occurs when the heart is no longer able to pump enough oxygen-rich blood to fulfill the body’s needs.
There is currently no cure for heart failure. In some cases, the condition can be managed through medication and lifestyle changes. For people with end-stage heart failure, however, there are limited treatment options.
Heart transplantation remains the primary treatment for end-stage heart failure, but there are not enough donor hearts to meet recipient needs. Figures from the Organ Transplantation and Procurement Network show that there are more than 3,900 patients in the U.S. waiting for a heart transplant. Last year, 3,191 heart transplants were performed.
Scott Wolf, CEO and Director of Research for Grace Century comments: “These research findings confirm the obvious fact: stem cells from the sick hearts are not good and unusable, hence, banking from a young healthy person is the only way to secure the future health.”
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