A 71 year old male suffering from congestive heart failure had a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) put in his chest, but his recovery may also have to do with the fact that his treatment included injections of his own bone marrow stem cells. The patient is taking part in a cutting-edge study at the University of Minnesota, where researchers hope that stem cell therapy could eliminate the need for transplants.

 

Stem Cell Therapy Offers Hope of Eliminating Need for Heart Transplants

Allan Isaacs, 71, had congestive heart failure, which made it difficult to perform basic tasks such as walking, breathing and eating. 

But after getting a left ventricular assist device put in his chest, he got moving again.

The LVAD helps pump oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, but Isaccs' recovery may also have to do with the fact that his treatment included injections of his own bone marrow stem cells. Isaacs is taking part in a cutting-edge study at the University of Minnesota.

"We isolate the stem cells and when they go in for surgery we inject those cells on the heart wall," said Dr. Ganesh Raveendran, 

director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.

One-third of the patients receive a placebo, and the rest get 10 injections of stem cells into their hearts. 

Muscle tissue is then analyzed to see whether the cells have transformed into cardiac muscle or made other meaningful changes.

In many cases, an LVAD is a bridge to a transplant, but the hope is that the stem cell therapy could eliminate the need for a transplant.

The research team at the University of Minnesota Medical Center hopes to wrap up the study by the end of the year before launching a much bigger national study.<sup>via

Am I a Candidate for Heart Stem Cells?</sup>

Poets say your Eyes are the Windows to your Soul; now Science has just caught up:   

 

 

Research on the eyes as windows to potential cardiovascular disease risk and dysfunctional coronary artery flow in prediabetics.

• Pre-implant evaluation
• CRT implantation
• Predischarge evaluation and device programming
• CRT follow-up
• Response to CRT management of the nonresponder
• Special considerations

According to a pro-life research organization, the lackluster success rates have made funding for embryonic stem-cell research more difficult to come by.

 

A new report from the education and research arm of the Susan B. Anthony List shows that the scientific community now recognizes that "morally unproblematic alternatives to embryonic stem cells [are] the best hope for progress toward effective treatments and therapies."

 

The scientific community now understands that the best chance for success with treating medical conditions is through adult stem cells.

 

Chuck Donovan is president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute. He says researchers are pursuing more ethical approaches.

 

"We've analyzed the last five years of funding by the San Francisco-based California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which was created to promote embryonic stem-cell research that hopefully would lead to therapies and cures for various diseases," Donovan explains. "It was promised to do that. Our analysis shows that they have been unable to find projects that work that way, and they are now turning more and more to adult stem-cell resources, which do not raise those ethical issues of destroying human embryos."

 

While no successful uses of human embryo research have been found, research with adult stem cells has shown promise in treating over 70 diseases and medical conditions.

 

Donovan concludes the survey shows that even the most supportive entity in the country, CIRM, cannot find beneficial projects for human embryo research and is turning to adult stem cells.

By SHANNA SISSOM | Herald Managing Editor


At age 53, Kent Winders hopes to pick up his grandchildren for the first time and ride a horse again.

“I have nine grandchildren and I’ve never picked one up,” Winders said. “It’s been a goal in my life ever since my (grand) babies were born.”
 

The disabled former New Mexico rancher has lived in Plainview’s Prairie House Living Center for three years, making friends throughout the assisted living center while being near his son and daughter-in-law, Cory and Jennifer Winders.

Winders suffers from a rare form of multiple sclerosis, known as primary progressive, is wheelchair-bound and also has very limited use of his upper extremities.
 

The bulk of his mornings are spent in therapy and in the afternoons — at least when a Texas Rangers game isn’t on — he often roams about in his motorized wheelchair. He knows where every item in Walmart is located, and he often fetches merchandise his fellow residents want to buy. Sometimes he goes over to Chili’s or Tractor Supply.
 

He taught a Bible study at the nursing home for over a year, but just reading Scriptures is challenging anymore.

“I can’t even hold my Bible now,” he explained.
 

But he likes to look at pictures of his grandchildren, and is happy to show them off to a visitor.

Despite his predicament, Winders is hopeful a procedure relatively new in the United States could help him. And he has reason to believe it will.
 

Back in 2001, he received a stem cell treatment in Tijuana, Mexico, and saw noticeable improvement to his overall condition, among them were regaining bladder control and seeing his swollen purple feet return to normal size. Friends helped him with costs associated with it all, and the volume of stem cells he received were 3 million to 5 million.
 

By vast contrast, stem cell infusions now available in the Houston area could deliver up to 600 million stem cells in multiple injections of 100 million to 150 million each, he said.
 

Winders has been researching all this with his daughter, who’s made contact with Hale County native physician Stanley Jones who performs these procedures in the Houston area. He’s even talked to Texas State Rep. Rick Hardcastle, who himself has undergone stem cell infusion for MS.
 

“It’s been the most miraculous thing that’s ever happened in my life,” Hardcastle told the Herald. Before he had the infusion, being out in the heat for long would leave him crippled, and he had enormous problems balancing. “Basically I got better.”
 

Four days after his infusion almost a year ago, Hardcastle said he was on a long-planned trip to Alaska, standing in a river fishing,
 

“I started getting better, and anybody that asks me, I say call me any place, anytime,” Hardcastle said.

And so he has encouraged Winders to get the stem cell procedure. Winders is quick to point out the stem cells would all be harvested from his own stomach.
 

“Those stem cells are not controversial. They are not embryo, not harvested from aborted babies,” Winders said. “People who have the same faith as I do would want to know that.”
 

He’s been fighting MS for about 24 years, but his particular type of MS affects only 10 percent of those suffering from the illness, and there’s no prescription drugs available to that group.
 

When he talked to Hardcastle recently the state representative encouraged him to seek the treatment, but the $28,000 price tag and travel expense is cost-prohibitive.
 

However, his friend Danny Andrews is among those who hope that just maybe donors might come forward to help the man Andrews calls his hero.
 

“He’s been such an inspiration to me because of his faith and desire to get out of that chair,” Andrews said. “He’s still a young man and I think he feels somewhat trapped there, and I hurt for him so badly.”
 

Andrews, who carries on an informal personal ministry at the facility, came across Winders during one of his weekly visits not long after Winders arrived at the facility. The two made an instant connection, Andrews said. In addition to their strong religious faith, they both are avid Texas Rangers fans.
 

“Me and Danny coach the Rangers from Plainview,” Winders joked from his room recently.
 

So as family and friends try to figure out how to raise money for the stem cell infusion Winders believes will change his life and enable him to pick up his grandbabies, he remains faithfully optimistic.
 

“I’m 53 in a nursing home and I don’t want to live here all my life,” Winders said. “I’d like to regain my independence, support myself where I can live on my own and do normal everyday activities everyone else does.”
 

The Winders family currently is researching ways to raise money, and hopes to establish a fund soon.
 

“Lord, I hope someone would come forward to help,” Andrews said about his friend.

Time to heal: Brian Hogan relaxes by listening to music after receiving treatment in a centre in Beijing last week

By Anne Sheridan 

Published on Monday 13 August 2012 14:00
 

FOR BRIAN Hogan and his family there are only three things left for them to do - wait, hope and pray.
 

The 35 year-old has now returned home to Limerick after three weeks in China, where he underwent stem cell infusions in the hope that one day he might be able to see and walk again.
 

However, it could be a long and anxious wait as the Ballykeeffe family have been told by doctors in Beijing that it could take six to eight months for the controversial treatment to work.
 

“We’ve had a good time in China and they’ve treated us well. The treatment is over so we just have to play the waiting game now to see what improvements I receive..it’s going to be an interesting wait,” said Brian, in an online video message, where he thanked people for their support.
 

Over the course of three weeks, Brian received stem cell infusions every second day, as well as lumbar punctures, and a number of therapies and exercises to improve his mobility.
 

He was based in a Beike Biotech treatment centre in Beijing, which uses stem cell products derived from umbilical cord, cord blood, and bone marrow stem cells. While the treatment continues to attract controversy and no funding was available from the Irish State as these are experimental trials, his family said anyone in their position would love to see him being able to reclaim the life he lost three years ago.
 

On July 19, 2009, Brian suffered severe brain damage and was left blind and partially paralysed after an unprovoked attack in Nottingham in the UK, where he was working as a senior quantity surveyor for a construction company.
 

His sister Nevis said while the treatment is “very exciting”, they are also “sick with nerves” in case they don’t see the results they’re hoping for. “Brian is so positive and always tries to keep the bright side out. He still enjoys life. He never has a woe is me attitude,” she added.
 

After he spoke out about his condition last September through the Limerick Leader newspaper, two wealthy female donors stepped forward and donated a total of €10,000 to help with the costs of his medical treatment, after being moved by his story. Nevis said they are grateful for “every penny” people have donated, as the treatment and other costs amounted to €40,000. In the past week, donations have continued to come in from people in Armagh, Derbyshire and Colorado.

Heart bypass surgery and other complicated procedures which require healthy blood vessels may soon be using vessels grown from adipose, or 'fat derived,' stem cells. Through liposuction, doctors can collect hundreds of millions of stem cells that can be used to generate blood vessels. The cells being ‘autologous’, or from the same patient, have no risk of adverse reactions or rejection.



 

Can liposuction help you live longer?

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 9, 2012 — Doctors at the University of Oklahoma reported the first successful procedure for growing new blood vessels from adipose, or ‘fat derived,’ stem cells. These newly formed blood vessels can be used in heart bypass surgery and other complicated procedures requiring healthy vessels, according to the researchers, who presented their findings at the American Heart Association’s 2012 Scientific Sessions. The ability for a patient and doctor to literally pre-order new blood vessels for a heart bypass patient is exactly what AdiCyte, an adipose stem cell cryogenic bank, is all about. Storing an individual’s adult adipose tissue and stem cells for their future use in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and cosmetic or reconstructive procedures.

Through liposuction, doctors can collect hundreds of millions of stem cells that can be used to generate blood vessels. The cells were “seeded” onto a ‘bio-scaffold’ and as they multiplied, researchers rolled them into tubes with the diameter of small blood vessels. Within weeks, new, healthy tissue began to grow into usable blood vessels. And since the cells are ‘autologous’, or from the same patient, there is no risk of adverse reactions or rejection.
 

But one of the key considerations is the age of the patient and thus the age of the stem cells. Young stem cells are much more active and potent than older cells. And young blood vessels are much more functional than older vessels.

One potential downside is that these blood vessels take time to grow in the lab. “They would not be available immediately, but you could bank your own cells and keep them until the time comes that you need them,” said Dr. Roberto Bolli, an American Heart Association spokesman and chief of cardiology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky.
 

Success using stem cells in tissue engineering have led to just that-the option for patients to bank their adipose stem cells as a biological resource for use in the future in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
 

Dr. David Harris, Professor of Immunology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, is Chief Scientific Officer and founder of Adicyte(TM), an adipose stem cell cryogenic bank. AdiCyte uses modern cryopreservation methods to safely store an individual’s adult adipose tissue and stem cells for their future use in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and cosmetic or reconstructive procedures.
 

“Adipose tissue is the richest source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the human body, and more than 100 FDA clinical trials are in motion to help bring these cellular therapies to approved indications” said Harris.
 

For $985, patients can save their adipose tissue and stem cells, and request them whenever needed. There is an annual maintenance fee of $120. Cryogenic storage of the tissue in essence, ‘stops the clock’ on cell aging, so if the cells are needed twenty years from now, they will still have the same level of vitality and activity as when they were banked.
 

“The ability for a patient and doctor to literally pre-order new blood vessels for a heart bypass patient is exactly what AdiCyte is about,” says Scott Edelman, AdiCyte’s CEO and co-founder. “We want to help drive the advancement of regenerative medicine by enabling people to preserve their youngest stem cells possible, so they have the opportunity to take advantage of these miraculous new technologies and live longer.”^via

 

A group of local doctors on Wednesday injected grown stem cells into a severely-burnt Malaysian woman to repair her skin. 

 

In an extremely rare procedure, doctors extracted, cultivated and then injected adult stem cells into the woman to treat intractable burn scars, experts said.

 

Doctors with JK Plastic Surgery Center in Seoul said the surgery on 19-year-old Hui-Linn was successful. The women’s body was scarred after her father Lim Teik Swee splashed acid on her mother and her while they were sleeping at home on Oct. 24, 2009. The mother died of her injuries. 

 

Hui-Linn lost the sight in her right eye and had nearly all of the skin on her face severely burnt. Her other eye has limited vision. 

 

The doctors said stem cell injections were the best way to allow Hui-Linn to smile and make other facial expressions. 

 

“We have already performed surgeries on Hui-Linn to recover her eyebrows, and the lower lip and jaw areas last year. However, we needed something beyond plastic surgery because the scarred area was vast and she needed more flexibility and elasticity to the skin while her wounds are too deep to be covered by other methods such as skin transplantation. Stem cells could transform and grow into her skin, giving her comfort and convenience in moving her facial skin,” said Dr. Joo Kwon, chief of the JK center. 

 

Dr. Bae Jun-sung, who will be overseeing her treatment, said Hui-Linn will be injected with a total of 90 million adult stem cells contained in 18cc of liquid over four sessions. 

 

The stem cells were extracted from her bone marrow in June and were cultivated by PharmiCell, the only company here authorized to cultivate and commercialize stem cells. 

 

Hui-Linn, who wore makeup and a bright-colored outfit to the press release held at the hospital, said she is thrilled to receive the treatment. 

 

“For the past several months I have made Korean friends and am learning Korean, too. I cannot wait to start the treatment and a new life!” she said. 

 

By Bae Ji-sook  (baejisook@heraldm.com)

By Brenda Goodman, MA

WebMD Health News

Michele Bachmann is the owner of Grapes 2 Glass Wine Boutique, 10351 Washington Ave., Suite 200, in Sturtevant. Bachmann has overcome a very aggressive form of cancer, thanks in large part to a stem cell transplant. She initially was given 18 months to live, or until she’d need another transplant. She’s had neither and is still in remission six years later. In the past, the average survival for her type of cancer has been two to three years.

RACINE COUNTY — After more than four decades, Michele Bachmann knew her body well enough to know there was something definitely wrong.
 

Yet it would be almost a year of frustration, aggravation and suffering before her feelings would receive validation — ultimately landing her in a grueling fight to save her life.
 

“I kept saying I was sick. People thought I was crazy,” she said. “I just kind of felt off, tired. Things just weren’t right.”

Bachmann, 50, who lives in Racine, said she contacted the doctor, who ran some blood tests.
 

“He said everything was fine. He said I just need to lose some weight and sit at my desk properly,” Bachmann said, giving her head a slight shake.
 

It wasn’t until later that she learned those tests results showed something more: Her white blood cell count was high.

“He said ‘oh no, you need to exercise, lose weight, take vitamins,’ ” she said. “By the time I got diagnosed in August, my spleen was the size of a basketball and weighed 25 pounds.”
 

It was about 11 months from the time she first knew she was sick before Bachmann — who owns Grapes 2 Glass Wine Boutique, at 10351 Washington Ave., Suite 200, in Sturtevant — received the proper diagnosis. It just wasn’t the one anyone wanted to hear.
 

She was in so much pain one day that she couldn’t make it to work in North Chicago, Ill., where she was a wine consultant. Her doctor was on vacation, so she went into prompt care. They took some blood, and she went home to make lunch, she said. They called her to come back because she was so low on blood. She received a transfusion, requiring three or four units, she said.
 

While at the hospital with her husband, parents and a friend, a doctor walked into her room, Bachmann recalled as if he stepped through that door only yesterday.
 

“He said ‘we just got the test results. You have leukemia,’ ” she recounted. “Everyone was in hysterics. It was a relief to me. I knew I was sick.”
 

He performed her first bone marrow biopsy while she still was in Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints hospital, 3801 Spring St., she said.
 

“It was probably one of the most horrible things I’ve ever done,” Bachmann said. “I was holding onto the railing of the bed and I probably could have broken the railing.”
 

But the doctor there wasn’t familiar with the type of cancer she had, Bachmann said.
 

Bachmann, who has nine siblings, said she called her sister, who had just completed a three-month course of chemotherapy at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwautosa because of tumors along her spinal column.
 

Her sister’s doctor recommended a new doctor at Froedtert, Timothy Fenske, Bachmann said. Fenske, a medical oncologist at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin, said he started working at the hospital in July 2005, and met Bachmann the following month.
 

He said she had mantle cell lymphoma. It is a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, he said.

“She had a lot of disease in her system,” Fenske said.
 

So she had a choice — the first of multiple tough decisions.
 

“They said where you’re at, you’ve got about two weeks to live. They explained my cancer is mainly in older men,” Bachmann said. “They said it’s only 4 percent of the types of leukemias and lymphomas. (Fenske) said ‘we could make you comfortable, or we could have you try this clinical going on right now.’ ”
 

But the course of treatment would be very strong.
 

“I said ‘if I’m gonna die in two weeks, what does it matter?’ ” Bachmann said.
 

She began her first chemo treatment in August 2005, and it truly was brutal, she explained. She developed sores inside her mouth. She lost her hair. She repeatedly lost her lunch. She became so weak she barely could move, she recalled.
 

Fenske said because Bachmann was so strong and young, and had such an extensive family support network, he suggested she undergo this type of high-dose chemotherapy. The average age of patients with Bachmann’s type of lymphoma is 63, he said.
 

“I thought chemo was chemo,” said Michele’s husband, Steve Bachmann. “Apparently there are hundreds of types.”

Looking back, Michele Bachmann can laugh at one type of chemo. She said the warning that came with it basically stated if she was allergic to eating rats, she might have a problem with it.
 

“I said, ‘well, I’ve never eaten rats, so we should be OK,’ ” she laughed.
 

“She’s one of our favorites,” Fenske said of Bachmann, in part because of her sense of humor. “Some people are a real challenge to get through chemotherapy. She was a trouper through it. Some people are really high maintenance.”

Often during chemo, patients’ sense of taste will be affected.
 

“Her thing was pickles,” Fenske said with a laugh. “She’d have this huge jar of pickles (when she came for chemo). I don’t know how many she’d work through.”
 

He said he suggested this type of aggressive chemotherapy because he wanted to send Bachmann’s cancer into remission, then dose her with stem cells he would transplant into her.
 

Stem cells are found throughout the body, including in bone marrow. Stem cells are a very basic building-block type of cells. In stem cell transplants, a batch of healthy cells is inserted into the body.
 

Froedtert spokeswoman Nalissa Wienke said “stem cell transplants are often the last best hope for patients.”

To help Bachmann’s body rebuild, Fenske gave her another choice, Bachmann said. She could use her own stem cells, or receive a transplant from a donor — such as one of her siblings. She chose her own stem cells, receiving the transplant Feb. 15, 2006.
 

Fenske said there are pros and cons to using one’s own stem cells and to using a donor’s.
 

Using one’s own stem cells allows doctors to administer high-dose chemotherapy, which works better at treating this type of cancer, but can leave patients without functioning bone marrows, Fenske said.
 

Transplanting the patient’s own stem cells also allows patients to recover better from this more aggressive, high-dose chemotherapy, Fenske explained. And it carries less of a risk — just 1 percent to 2 percent — of infection or a serious complication, he added.
 

So in Bachmann’s case, “it’s her own immune system coming back,” Fenske said.
 

But when a donor’s stem cells are used, patients would have to take anti-rejection drugs. And, they have more risk of infection, Fenske explained, at 15 percent to 20 percent.
 

“Historically, (with) the type of lymphoma she had, the average person only lived two to three years after diagnosis. In recent years, the prognosis has increased dramatically,” Fenske said.
 

Now, 50 to 60 percent of patients who receive high-dose chemotherapy and their own stem cells still are in remission six years later, Fenske said — just as Bachmann is.
 

An 8- to 10-year period is considered a good length of remission, Fenske said. And if it returns, he said Bachmann still could have a stem cell transplant from a donor.
 

“I’m just extremely, extremely happy” to be cancer-free for the past six years, she said. “I feel good.”
 

During the first couple of years after chemo and the transplant, she said she was waiting for the cancer to come back, almost preparing for it.
 

“(Now) if I feel run down, I know I didn’t go to bed early enough. I don’t have that really crappy feeling anymore,” Bachmann said. “Now I’ve got two birthdays. One in April and one on Feb. 15 — that’s my new life.”

A virus infection Stephanie Connor acquired during pregnancy put her unborn daughter at significant risk for brain damage and lifelong hearing loss.

 

"It was traumatic," said Connor, of LaBelle, Fl, after learning about her daughter's condition. "It was like mourning the loss of a child."

 

At age 1, baby Madeleine was completely deaf in her right ear and her hearing was severely lost in the left, said Connor. While a hearing aid helped to amplify some sounds for Madeleine, it would never fully repair the damage in her ear.

 

But a simple experimental procedure that Connor enrolled in for Madeleine may have restored her hearing and reversed her condition.

 

In January 2012, Madeleine, 2, became the first child to undergo an experimental hearing loss treatment through an FDA-approved trial at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center that infused stem cells from her own banked cord blood into her damaged inner ear.

 

Within the last six months, Connor says she's seen a dramatic improvement in Madeleine's ability to hear.

 

"Before, when she would hear something she would look all around," Connor said. "But now we notice that she turns in the right direction of the sound."

 

Madeleine was also able to speak for the first time, Connor said.

 

For more than two decades, umbilical cord blood transplantation -- either by a baby's own cord blood or another's, depending on the type of procedure -- has been used to treat otherwise fatal diseases including blood disorders, immune diseases, and some types of cancers.

 

Infusing cord blood stem cells into the body may also have the potential to heal and regenerate damaged cells and tissues.

 

Regenerative therapy using cord blood stem cells is currently being studied as therapies to treat conditions including cerebral palsy and brain injury.

 

For the first time, doctors are experimenting with cord blood stem cells to regenerate hearing in children who have suffered hearing loss.

 

This yearlong study will follow 10 children, including Madeleine, ages 6 weeks to 18 months, who have acquired hearing loss and who have banked their cord blood with the Cord Blood Registry.

 

"There are a number of treatments for hearing loss, but most of them rely on amplification of noises, not reversal of the hearing loss," said Dr. Samer Fakhri, associate professor and program director in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, and principal investigator of the study.

 

Since Madeleine is part of a study that is currently under way, it's unclear whether Connor's perceived improvement of Madeleine is really due to the stem cell procedure.

 

Madeleine has already had one follow-up appointment to test her speech and language development, which are indicators that her hearing has improved. She will have another one mid-July.

 

Fakhri said it's still too early to determine whether the procedure benefitted Madeleine, or may be beneficial for other children.

 

"If there's any improvement, it should be detected within six months to a year," Fakhri said. "We can't determine from just one child if there's an overall benefit."

 

If the study results show significant improvement overall among the collective children studied, children with acquired -- not genetic -- hearing loss, may be able to benefit from the procedure.

 

"We do not recommend that stem cells at this point now should be a treatment modality for hearing loss," Fakhri said.

 

Previous studies in mice suggest long-term hearing repair after stem cell infusion. Fakhri says it's likely that if the procedure works, children like Madeleine will have long-term restored hearing.

 

"The way the stem cells work is they support repair," said Fakhri. "Once you repair the damage, there's no suggestion that it will dwindle over time."

 

Connor said the improvement she has seen so far is enough that she is grateful that she enrolled in the trial, and she hopes the study will prove to be beneficial in repairing hearing loss so other children can be treated successfully.

 

"As a mom of special needs, if you're able to help a child it's huge," she said. "There's nothing that can compare to giving a child back something that's been taken away."