Quality life for heart patients

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: Patients with heart failure after a heart attack can regain a better quality of life with a procedure that involves stem cells drawn from their own blood and infused directly into the artery.
The procedure, called intra-coronary peripheral blood stem cell transfusion for dilated ischaemic heart disease, was performed for the first time in South-East Asia by a local cardiologist at a private medical centre in Kuala Lumpur in August, in collaboration with a local stem cell bank.
The 64-year-old patient who underwent the procedure had earlier suffered heart failure after a heart attack, which reduced the organ's function to 28%. Six months after the procedure, there was a 5% improvement in the patient's heart function.
“This improvement is in line with the 5%-6% increase in heart function shown in published studies from the United States and Europe,” said Dr Soo Chee Siong, chief cardiologist of the medical centre involved.
Stem cells, which are cells that can transform into any type of cell in the body, are believed to be able to change into heart muscle cells to replace those damaged during a heart attack.
Previously, adult stem cells had to be harvested from the bone marrow or skeletal muscles, involving highly invasive and painful procedures.
However, stem cells harvested from the patient’s blood involves a simple procedure that is akin to a transfusion. After harvesting, these stem cells are infused in the artery directly into the damaged area of the heart.
“In the past, we had to do open heart surgery to inject the stem cells,” said Dr Soo.
Since the first procedure in August, two more patients have undergone this procedure in the medical centre.
Although this procedure has not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, Dr Soo said there were no ethical issues involved as the stem cells were harvested from the patient’s own blood.
“The procedures were carried out in Malaysia with the full consent of the patients,” he added.
Adult stem cell therapy is a novel approach in improving heart function, and is also being studied for the treatment of other conditions like leukaemia, diabetes, spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease.
Readers can find out more about this procedure in Fit for Life this Sunday.