Stem Cell Therapy for Heart Failure Essay - 918 Words

Heart failure is a condition at which the heart is unable to maintain an adequate circulation required for the metabolic needs of body tissues. The major cause of heart failure is the weakening of ventricular muscle at which it fails to pump blood efficiently from the heart to all parts of the body. According to a report published at NHS Choices and BBC News in February 2012, scientists have developed the uses of stem cell therapy to heal the damage caused by heart attack. This therapy is still at the trial stage where they examined the safety of treating scars and cardiac tissue damage using stem cells. Stem Cell Therapy for Heart Failure This therapy is said to be a promising therapy for heart failure patients as stem cell therapy†¦show more content†¦The usage of cardiac-derived cells are considered as the most potential autologous cell source for cardiac repair as in a research done by Tang et al. (2013), there is a reduction in the size of the scar but has no significant improvement in cardiac functions as measured using left ventricular ejection function (LVEF). In April 2013, a report published in Express states that researchers from Mayo Clinic treat heart failure patients with a special stem cells harvested from the top of the patient’s hip. Proteins are used to instruct the stem cells to works as heart cells and these are then injected into the patient’s heart. The results show that patients have greater improvement in their health but this technique still requires further investigation to determine why the hip’s stem cells are able to cause such effects. Although different stem cells are used for the treatment of heart failure, each of the stem cells used has some limitations. Furthermore, due to the small number of patients participated in the research, there is a lack of statistically significant evidences and thereby it still requires further studies. However, based on the previous researches done, stem cell therapy has become a leading therapy for the treatment of heart failure. Ways to Overcome Limitations Even thought stem cell therapy has become a potential therapy for treating heart failure, butShow MoreRelatedStem Cell Research : Stem Cells999 Words   |  4 PagesSTEM CELLS WORKING TO SPECIALIZE INTO CARDIAC CELLS Once the stem cells are delivered near the damaged areas of the heart, the regeneration of cardiac (heart) cells is possible. There is a lack of understanding on how or why specifically the stem cells turn into heart cells. â€Å"Recent studies indicated that the benefits associated with adult stem cell injection might come from paracrine effects, the effect of a nearby cell sending chemical and electrical signals to the stem cell, and not from myocardialRead MoreStem Cells Research The Regeneration Of Medicine. 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