Posted on 09/03/2007 5:40:01 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Cardiac patients will soon be able to 'grow their own' heart valves and have them transplanted within weeks of seeing a doctor.
The groundbreaking treatment, developed by British surgeons, will create heart tissue from stem cells from the patient's body.
The technique offers hope to millions who suffer heart disease.
Scientists said the valves would not be rejected after a transplant because the tissue will have come from the patient and be genetically identical.
In April, a team led by heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub of Harefield Hospital, in West London, revealed that they had used bone marrow stem cells to create a replacement heart valve for the first time.
As Sir Magdi's team publishes details of the experiment in the journal Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society today, colleagues said the valves could be grown from scratch within weeks.
Dr Dorthe Schmidt, of the University of Zurich, said a valve could be implanted into a sick heart "after a time period of six to eight weeks".
Sir Magdi, professor of cardiac surgery at Imperial College London and one of the world's leading heart surgeons, said:
"Currently people suffering from heart valve disease can be treated with artificial replacement valves - they do the job and save lives but they are far from perfect.
"Although there has been huge progress in developing mechanical replacements, they still work mechanically and not physiologically - they cannot match the elegant sophisticated functions of living tissues."
He added: "The ultimate goal is to produce an 'off the shelf' product which will not cause an immune response from patients. This should be possible in the next five to eight years."
Stem cells are the body's 'master cells' - undeveloped cells which have the ability to turn into any type of tissue, from brain cells to heart muscle.
Although the most potent form is found in newlycellsformed embryos, they are also present in the bodies of adults.
Sir Magdi's team harvested stem cells from a volunteer's bone marrow and used a cocktail of chemicals to coax them into becoming heart cells.
Placed on a scaffold made of biodegradable plastic, the grew and fused together to form discs of heart valve tissue just an inch wide. As the heart valves developed, the scaffold decayed, leaving behind solid tissue.
The researchers are due to begin testing the valves in animals this year and trials on people are expected to follow.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the latest work, said: "Replacement human, animal and mechanical heart valves remain lifesaving for thousands every day in the UK.
"However, Professor Yacoub and his team are among the leaders in research to design better replacement heart valves using human stem cells and natural biological materials as the framework for these cells to grow in.
"We look forward to seeing the solutions to unresolved practical issues that will allow the promise of experimental research to become a reality for patients in the not too distant future."
Hearts have four valves which ensure blood flows in the right direction.
They have to be replaced if they leak or fail to open properly. Around 10,000 people a year need such surgery.
Adults are usually given artificial replacements, while children are given valves from human donors.
But donor valves are in short supply and tend to deteriorate over time, while patients given artificial valves must take drugs for the rest of their lives to stop blood clots forming.
Earlier this year, Israeli researchers said they had grown a tiny beating heart from stem cells from a newly-created embryo.
Hi Mom - check this out!
This is a wonderful development.
It is indeed. In twenty years they’ll just grow a new heart in the same manor.
Wow...
bump
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and venture that none of the doctors was named “Muhammed” or “Achmed”.
You certainly got that right. Every day it seems like new discoveries are made.
Dad was born in 1916 and at the age of 6 had rheumatic fever. It damaged his mitrial valve. He enlisted in the Army just before Pearl Harbor and they found it then. It was not bad enough to keep him out of the service and they monitored it throughout his career.
At the tender age of 82 he began to faint when he got out of bed. The valve was finally giving out. But by this time there had been major advances in using animal valves. His surgery was in Medford, Oregon. They did 5 patients that day and Dad was by far the oldest. He recovered the slowest. His heart was so big that they had to use a cow valve instead of a pig valve.
Dad always said it was a BULL valve, not just some old cow. Slowly he regained his strength and got back out on the lake and was hauling in some very nice trout.
They told him it would last 7 to 10 years. At the beginning of the seventh year he began to fall, broke a hip, etc etc. He had a severe stroke and passed away at 89.
I miss him terribly.
For those of you who will benefit from this new technology, don’t take a minute for granted.
I have a bovine aeortic valve. It is not a animal valve. It is a constructed valve made from pericardial bovine material.
The head man is Egyptian.
My father has two artificial heart valves, both St. Jude’s valves, as a result of 2 bouts of rheumatic fever as a child. The valves click - we can hear him ticking wherever he goes (you can imagine what it’s like at the airport!!!) I am so happy that they are still developing new valve technology for all those out there with valve problems.
> The head man is Egyptian.
I am astonished. Really.
Is he a practicing Moslem?
I don’t remember the last time I heard of a devout Moslem doing anything good for the world. Their most recent technological contributions seem to center around using cell phones for explosive devices.
Tell me how old your father is.I had the same valve fitted
in the ascending aorta in 2005 (I was 51 then.)
I have problems sleeping at night because I also have a stent as well.When I lie down it rests against my windpipe.
It constantly clicks in my right ear to remind me to be thankfull I am still alive.I have to sleep with a walkman earbud playing music & talkback ALL night.(It’s the only way I can drown out the clicking and keep myself sane.
I used to complentate suicide but thank God I am through that stage!(I am now well adjusted & happy!)
Google Magdi Yacoub
Jeez, and I thought roaring tinnitus was bad. Happily, my stent is silent. You have my sympathy. But, as you say, it beats the alternative.
Here’s another physician that MIGHT be Muslim (from Turkey).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Mehmet_Oz
I had to have a spontaneously-collapsing lung fixed when I finished
high school. One of the parters of my thoracic surgeon was a practicing
Muslim that tried and failed a number of times to build a mosque in the Oklahoma City.
At the time, I thought OKC was bigoted in foiling his planned mosque
with zoning strictures, etc.
After 9-11, I started to think that maybe someone at City Hall knew
something I didn’t know.
Seeing how terrorist-consultant Stephen Emerson stumbled onto
“Jihad In America” when he accidentally ran across an Islamist meeting
in down-town OKC.
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