Osiris Therapeutics Inc.'s easy-to- administer stem cell treatment helped patients recover after a heart attack and eased their symptoms in a study.
The cells were given intravenously to patients who had a heart attack within the past 10 days, researchers said. The hearts of those who got the cells pumped 25 percent more efficiently both three months and six months after treatment, according to research presented today at a science meeting.
The study, using adult cells gathered from bone marrow, is the first to transfer stem cells from donors to heart patients. Since an IV line delivers the cells, rather than a complex heart procedure, ``they could be given at a community hospital'' rather than an academic center, said Marc Penn, director of the Bakken Heart Brain Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.
Maybe not. If you are keeping score at home, that's one more real-world success for adult stem cells versus zero for fetal stem cells.
Any more words of wisdom on global warming or how great socialized medicine will be?