The night Michael Jackson died I ended up at the University of Miami Hospital chatting with Dr. Alan Heldman. He was giving us a sound bite on Jackson's cardiac arrest. Call it coincidence but it just happened that very day Dr. Heldman and his partner Dr. Joshua Hare were opening up an entire laboratory dedicated to saving the lives of people with heart failures.
The grand opening was just hours after TMZ announced Jackson's death.
The brand new research building with several floors of labs is all part of a major initiative underway at UM. The university is getting into the race to create the next medical breakthrough with stem cells. In Heldman's experiment they are taking stem cells from patient’s bone marrow and inserting it into people's hearts. Typically when you have a heart attack part of the heart's muscle dies. Up until now there has been no fix for this, no way to repair-regrow the heart. Until now.
17 people are involved in the clinical study. The patients have received either stem cells or placebos inserted directly into their hearts. Most of the stem cells are being delivered through a catheter... so no need for open heart surgery! (Although it can be done then as well)
Barry Brown, who underwent triple bypass surgery, is one of the 17 hoping this works. He went to see his doc because he was having a hard time breathing. A battery of tests later he learned he had unknowingly had a heart attack. He also had three arteries either fully blocked or about to be. He embraced the stem cell study hoping to not only repair his heart but millions of others. He doesn't know if he has his stem cells or the placebo but he's hopeful either way. If it's a placebo he plans to do the procedure as soon as the technology is FDA approved.
So far these tests have worked in rats and pigs. They have given them heart attacks, inserted the animals’ stem cells into their hearts, and watched the heart muscle regenerate new tissue. If these doctors get it right in humans the implications are rather remarkable and far reaching. Not only would this kill the number one killer in America but imagine using your own stem cells to regenerate any organ in your body. From cancers, to blindness, to even those paralyzed the possibilities are endless. It truly is an exciting time in medicine.
We should know something in roughly a years time. If all goes well stem cells could be FDA approved and be a very real solution by 2014. I think of my family history and hold out hope.
It's my understanding the clinical study is still taking on patients. Interested parties should contact Omar Montejo at the University of Miami School of Medicine: OMontejo@med.miami.edu
