A impaired heart can doom a person to a shortened life span of limited mobility, each movement a tremendous effort. More than 13 million Americans suffer from heart disease. Each year, 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with heart failure, the most severe form of heart disease. Heart disease can be treated with medications and surgery, but transplantation is the nearest to a cure traditional medicine can offer … for now.
But it won’t be long before heart disease is treated with a minimally-invasive procedure with no serious side effects: an injection of stem cells from the patient’s own bone marrow or blood. Such treatments are already available overseas and are in clinical trials in the United States.
In podcast #5, we’ll hear from Dr. Amit Patel. He was one of the first physician-scientists to use adult stem cells to treat heart failure, and his group continues to research and refine their use.
At the time of recording, Amit N. Patel, MD, MS, was the director of the Center for Cardiac Cell Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. For more information about Dr. Patel’s current work, click here.
Hosts Leah Kauffman and A.J. Malkiewicz. Interview by Leah Kauffman.
For more information about the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, visit:
McGowan Institute Research Site
McGowan Institute Patient Site
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