World's First Cardiac Adult Stem Cell Trial To Take Place In Louisville

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research;  Clinical Trials / Drug Trials
Article Date: 12 Feb 2009 - 2:00 PST

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The world's first phase one FDA approved clinical trial using adult cardiac stem cells to treat heart disease will be conducted by a team of University of Louisville doctors at Jewish Hospital.

For the first time, patients with advanced heart disease who already are undergoing bypass surgery will be recruited for participation in the clinical trial, which uses adult stem cells taken from the patient's own cardiac tissue. During surgery, a small piece of tissue that is routinely removed during the bypass procedure will be frozen and sent to colleagues at Harvard University so that the adult cardiac stem cells can be extracted and removed.

After the patient has recovered for three to four months, the cells will be directly injected into cardiac scar tissue using a minimally-invasive cardiac catheterization procedure, which reaches the heart through a large artery in the patient's leg.

The patients will be evaluated over the course of at least a year for heart function and blood flow. The heart's overall size and the size of the scar tissue will be measured.

"Our hope is that the cardiac stem cells will help the heart tissue regenerate, reducing the size of the patient's scar tissue and improving heart function," said study leader Roberto Bolli, Jewish Hospital Heart and Lung Institute Distinguished Chair in Cardiology.

All patients enrolling in the clinical trial will receive the cardiac stem cell therapy, since this is a phase one clinical trial designed to test the treatment's safety and feasibility.

Bolli, who is also chief of the Division of Cardiology and director of UofL's Institute for Molecular Cardiology, is collaborating with a number of leaders in the field of cardiovascular and stem cell medicine for this clinical trial, including Piero Anversa, of Harvard University and Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and Mark Slaughter, Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UofL.

Jewish Hospital
http://www.jewishhospital.org

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