Injecting autologous (the patient’s own) stem cells directly into the hearts of patients with chronic heart failure improves ventricular performance, quality of life, and survival, according to the only large (391 patients), long term (5 years), stem cell clinical trial in medical history.

Benefits of the stem cell treatment were apparent within three months -- and persisted for up to five years of follow-up, Bodo-Eckehard Strauer, of Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany, reported at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.

Patients who did not receive a stem cell infusion and remained on standard optimal medical therapy continued to deteriorate throughout the follow-up period, worsening from seriously impaired to where their only choices were a heart transplant (most would not be eligible) or a hospice.

There were no stem cell side effects, Strauer said in an interview.

The findings were reported earlier this year in the European Journal of Heart Failure .

Strauer said at a press briefing that patients with more severe heart failure seem to fare better from the stem cell treatment. "This therapy has almost no risk. It can only be beneficial in patients. So, in my opinion, it has real clinical importance for the treatment of heart failure," he said.

Strauer and his colleagues initially approached 391 patients with long-term chronic heart failure (resulting from a heart attack) to participate in the study -- 191 agreed to receive an autologous bone marrow stem cell infusion (pronounced aw-TAH-lig-gus; meaning the stem cells were donated by the patient for the patient), and 200 declined the stem cells but agreed to participate as controls to measure against. The average period since patients experienced a heart attack was 8.5 years. Mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 29.5% in the treatment group and 36.1% in the control group.

All patients continued to receive optimal medical therapy.  The stem cell patients (as a group) were able to overcome the negative effects of standard cardiology and got healthier. The non-stem-cell patients (as a group) got nothing but worse.

At the three-month follow-up, there was significant improvement in left ventricular performance in the treatment group, reflected by improved cardiac index (by 22%), peak oxygen uptake (by 11%), and oxygen pulse (by 6.3%) (P<0.05 for all).

Exercise capacity increased by 15.4% from baseline, and left ventricular ejection fraction improved from 29.4% at baseline to 36% at three months (P<0.01 for both)..

QUALITY OF LIFE

There were gains in quality of life as well, with the mean New York Heart Association (NYHA) class**dropping from 3.22 to 2.25 (P<0.0167). In the control group, NYHA worsened from 3.06 to 3.5.

**ED NOTE: NYHA MEANS THIS (IN LAYMAN’S TERMS):

Class I = Minimum physical effect on the patient from his heart disease, perhaps occasional breathing problem or chest pain.

Class II = Trouble climbing stairs, lifting something heavy, walking quickly, plus general loss of energy.

Class III = Severe and constant physical limitations, constant overriding fatigue.

Class IV = Terminal, heart transplant and hospice are the only options.

The benefits in the treatment group persisted through one and five years.

The average patient in the non-stem-cell group deteriorated year after year, dropping down to NYHA class 3.5, which, for most, leaves nothing but a heart transplant (and a permanently impaired immune system) for survival.

Survival was better in the stem cell treatment group than in the control group. The annual mortality rate for the stem cell group was 7.5 per thousand while the control group lost 36.8 per thousand. 

"The reason [for the mortality reduction] may be twofold; namely, a decrease in pump failure and a decrease in severe cardiac arrhythmias," Strauer and his colleagues wrote in their paper.

There are other trials, with essentially the same results, including VesCell's 2004-06 trial which was accepted by the American Heart Association at its November 2006 meeting. They are all available for you and your doctor to examine at: http://repairstemcells.org/Resources/Downloads.aspx

So we end this with a question:

How has your health progressed since you starting seeing cardiologists? Think back to the day you were first diagnosed. Are you better today? Are you the same today? If so, stick with that doctor, he (or she) is a miracle worker!

If not, you have two choices:

(1) Keep taking those useless prescriptions until he sends you to a hospice, or gets you on the transplant list, or you become one of the unlucky million in Europe and North America who won’t make it through the next 12 months.

OR

Find out NOW if you are one of the 2/3 of all heart patients who can be helped with stem cells by completing the form at http://www.vescell.com/heart-disease-treating-application.php