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Jan 11, 2008 5:50 pm US/Central

Stem Cells May Aid Those At Risk For Heart Failure

CHICAGO (CBS) ― A new treatment could offer hope for many patients who have run out of options.

CBS 2's Medical Editor Mary Ann Childers reports, there may be hope for those people with severe coronary artery disease who is at great risk for heart attacks and progressive heart failure -- those people where surgeries, stents, and other treatments haven't helped.

Doctors at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center are testing something they hope will help – injections of stem cells.

Sixty-eight-year-old heart patient James Campbell is hoping to make medical history. He's volunteered to have an injection directly into his heart. It may be a special kind of stem cell, it may be salt water. Neither he, nor his doctors know. Campbell is a part of a clinical trial to find out if stem cells will help the heart grow new blood vessels.

"If it works, it's worth it," Campbell said.

"The hope is that these endothelial progenitor cells will grow and divide and allow and facilitate new blood vessels to enter that region of the heart muscle that's not getting enough blood and oxygen," said Dr. Gary Schaer, director of cardiac catherization at Rush.

Campbell who's survived a hear attack and two heart surgeries, hopes it could end three years of chronic, debilitating chest pain.

"I can walk maybe 60 to 65 feet and I start having chest pains," Campbell said.

Like every patient in this trial, Campbell donated his own stem cells the day before.

"The advantage of the patient's own stem cells is there's no chance of rejection," Schaer said.

And, says Dr. Schaer, no ethical issues. Since the trial started, Schaer has used sophisticated catheter technology and 3-D computer mapping to inject several dozen patients like Campbell. There have been no adverse reactions and reports so far are tremendously encouraging.

"The patients that we're seeing in follow up, and we've seen several that have come back for their one year follow up, we've seen marked improvements in their symptoms," Schaer said.

More trials of different kinds of stem cells and different disease states are planned at Rush. For now, this one is still recruiting patients.

Campbell is optimistic, hoping the injections will stop the pain and let him get back to his hobbies – canoeing and motorcycles.

For more information on stem cell studies, contact Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 312-926-3413 or Rush University Medical Center at
312-942-8901.

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