Stem cells used in heart operation

South African Press Association

04/10/2002

Newcastle, Australia - An Australian man has undergone an operation using adult stem cells in a world-first trial to repair his damaged heart, Australian researchers announced on Wednesday.

Jim Nichol (74) had already had three heart bypass operations when doctors at the John Hunter Hospital in the New South Wales city of Newcastle decided to try to save his life with stem cells.

Cardiologist Suku Thambar of the Hunter Medical Research Institute said it was the first ever clinical trial of a procedure that doctors hope could help almost a third of all patients with end stage coronary artery disease.

But it was a procedure targeting what are known as "no option patients" - those with little or nothing to lose, Thambar told reporters here.

He said bone marrow was taken from Nichol's hip and stem cells were extracted from the marrow and injected into the muscle of his heart.

If the experiment works the way the doctors anticipate, the injected stem cells will begin secreting growth factors which will stimulate the growth of blood vessels in his heart, easing his constant chest pain and reducing his need for medication.

"This is a trial which is seeking to examine the efficacy of the patient's own adult bone marrow-derived stem cells to increase the blood vessel growth in the heart," he said.

"It involves a group of patients ... who have got vessels which are not amenable to the conventional methods of improving blood supply such as angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery."

Safety and feasibility studies were completed overseas.

Adult stem cells

Thambar said Nichol had been discharged from hospital on Tuesday in a stable condition, but it would be some months before it became clear whether the procedure was working.

The trial follows news that a US man had apparently recovered from Parkinsons's disease after being injected with stem cells from his own brain.

Because the procedures use adult stem cells, they are distinct from the more controversial use of embryonic stem cells, which are harvested from human embryos.

Embryonic stem cell research using surplus IVF embryos will proceed in Australia under a decision by the states and Commonwealth announced by Prime Minister John Howard last week.

Thambar said although there were definite benefits in using adult stem cells no decision had been made yet about whether embryonic stem cells would be used in later stages of the current trial.

The experiment was overseen by Dr Shmuel Fuchs of the cardiovascular research institute at the Washington Hospital Centre and Dr Phil Rowlings of the Newcastle Mater Misericordia Hospital.

It used a high-tech cardiac imaging system to create a 3-D map of the heart which enabled the operation to be carried out with pin-point accuracy.

Further clinical trials are expected to take place in Hong Kong and China with other countries, including Italy, expected to join further down the track.