Stem Cells Injected Directly Into the Heart- Sounds Familiar

Surgeons in Houston at The Methodist Hospital announced they were the first in the United States to inject Adult Stem Cells directly into the heart of patients "providing an intense, direct hit on damaged tissue."

From the press release

In an investigational study of new heart failure treatments, this promising new technique may be more effective in regenerating healthy heart tissue than current methods that use a catheter to put standard stem cells through the bloodstream into the heart.

The 58-year-old veteran and businessman is resting comfortably and is expected to be discharged this weekend.

In a novel process, the patient’s strongest and most robust stem and progenitor cells, derived from the patient’s own bone marrow, are amplified up to 1,000 times before they’re injected back into the patient’s heart. In the procedure, Dr. Bruckner made a small incision in the left side of the patient’s chest and administered approximately 25 injections of concentrated stem cells into the patient’s heart.

That sounds great. Now, look at this from the Vescell website where they have been doing this procedure in Bangkok, Thailand for the last 3 1/2 years!

The direct injection procedure is a mini surgery. The surgeon makes a small incision on the left side of the chest to gain access to the heart muscle. Next, he makes approximately 30 injections of stem cells directly into the heart muscle where they grow into new muscle tissue. This procedure is most often used to treat Non-Ischemic cardiomyopathy or severe congestive heart failure with moderate ischemia.

The procedures look the same, don't they? Good to know the United States is now finally catching up a little. There are lots of hearts to be healed out there.

Take Joe Woolfolk for example. Joe came to Thailand in December, 2006 for the procedure described above:


Joe and his wife Judy flew to Bangkok, Thailand in December, 2006 for Joe’s stem cell treatment. Joe had his own adult stem cells injected back into his heart muscle in a minimally invasive surgical procedure at Bangkok Heart Hospital.

Joe's ejection fraction shot up from 20% to 45% after the procedure and he will be happy to tell you about it. Joe can be reached at 214-697-0086