Adult stem cells better choice than death or transplant for heart
failure patients
Contributed by Jon Bradshaw
Thursday, 02 August 2007
Theravitae has announced a viable third option instead of death or
transplant for heart attack patients whose heart has been severely
damaged and is failing. They cite the case of Terry Areford from
Morgantown, West Virginia who declined both of what he believed were
his only options and instead chose the realistic hope of help from
his own adult stem cells.
BANGKOK, Thailand, August 1, 2007 – Heart disease, according to the
figures from The National Center for Health Statistics 2005 data,
affects some 25.6 million Americans. It was then, and remains, the
biggest killer of U.S. citizens, with over 650,000 dying every year.
Until now as patients deteriorated and medication or surgery on their
heart failed to help they were faced with only two options, a heart
transplant or death.
Theravitae, an international biotechnology company based in Thailand,
claim they can provide a realistic third option that offers new hope
to heart failure patients – treatment with their own adult stem
cells. Their patented therapy, VesCell, uses a mere half pint of the
patient's own blood which is sent to their laboratory where the
therapeutic stem cells are multiplied by millions and then injected
directly or implanted by catheter into the damaged heart muscle or
occluded heart blood vessels. Hundreds of their patients have
attested to the fact that their lives have been improved and
lengthened by this technique which is performed by cardiac
specialists in world-class hospitals in Thailand.
Terry Areford from Morgantown, West Virginia is just one patient who
was not told by his cardiologist that the option of adult stem cell
therapy existed for him. More appalling than not being so advised, he
was a patient at the prestigious teaching hospital attached to the
University of West Virginia where he could reasonably have expected
to receive the best and most advanced treatment options available to
medical science. He believed that his imminent death was unavoidable
because he did not want a transplant and after several heart attacks,
six bypasses and more than half a dozen operations to insert stents
he had only one small vessel left pumping blood to the front of his
heart.
Daily living for Terry was characterized by pain and shortness of
breath. He could not walk a hundred feet without tightness in his
chest and at only 60 years of age felt that he would like to be
around a little longer to enjoy his family and grandchildren. He was
upset and felt that there ought to have been more that could be done
to help him. Fortunately for him his daughter was internet savvy and
searched until she found that there was, indeed, grounds for hope.
`I think it's a total shame that I cannot get the help I need at
home. I found out that there is some research going on with adult
stem cells in the U.S. but they are like five year trials. I couldn't
wait five years. There's going to be a lot of people dead in five
years and they wouldn't have to be dead if they knew about adult stem
cell therapy,' he said.
`I hope ten people read my story and go out and tell ten more people
so that everybody comes to understand what this is all about. I was
using my own body to help, or perhaps cure, my own body. There is no
rejection factor and it took only a small incision in my chest wall
and an injection of my own stem cells into the heart. Once implanted
these cells do what they are programmed to do – revascularize to
improve blood flow to my useless heart muscle. While my wife shopped
and visited the temples and markets I lay back in a superb hospital
with fantastic care to get well,' he added.
About TheraVitae:
TheraVitae is a private, multinational company focused on using stem
cells from the patient's own blood in order to treat a variety of
disorders, especially cardiovascular diseases. The company has
developed a proprietary stem cell technology, 'VesCell', that is
currently being used by hospitals in Thailand and Singapore to treat
patients with heart disease and peripheral artery disease.
VesCell -- A Natural Treatment for Heart Disease and Peripheral
Arterial Disease (PAD)
The body has natural ways of healing itself and the cardiovascular
system is no exception. Angiogenic Cell Precursors (ACPs) originate
in bone marrow and then circulate in the blood vessels. To
manufacture VesCell, TheraVitae expands a small number of ACPs
harvested from about 250cc of blood into a therapeutic quantity.
VesCell is injected either through a coronary artery via catheter, or
during surgery, directly into the heart muscle.
A key aspect of VesCell therapy is the advanced cell isolation and
expansion technique that allows for the ACPs to be harvested from
blood collected in a procedure similar to a common blood donation.
VesCell uses a patient's own adult stem cells to treat Heart Disease
and PAD and is a viable therapeutic possibility for heart or PAD
patients without any other treatment option.
TheraVitae Corporate Web Site: http://www.theravit
VesCell Web Site: http://www.vescell.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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