Heart Cells Foundation

"By pioneering stem cell therapy we could provide truly significant benefits to thousands of people in the uk who suffer the debilitating effects of cardiovascular disease."
Dr Anthony Mathur, Consultant Cardiologist, Barts and The London NHS Trust

What are stem cells?
Stem cells have the ability to change into other specialised cell types. For this reason they are sometimes referred to as the body's building blocks. Although their exact role in the adult is still not completely clear, it is thought they act like a natural repair system, maintaining the tissue in which they are found.

Where stem cells are found
As a foetus develops, stem cells divide to become the body's tissues and organs. In adulthood they are found in organs such as the brain and liver, as well as in blood vessels, muscles, and the skin. However, bone marrow is the main source of stem cells.

Adult stem cell treatment
Researchers around the world are testing how adult stem cells can be used to repair damaged organs. Some examples of potential treatments include the replacement of brain cells of Parkinson's disease sufferers and the development of insulin-producing cells for diabetics.

Treating heart disease
Some doctors believe that stem cells can be used to restore the heart muscle cells damaged in a heart attack, helping it to function normally again. Stem cells could make drugs and pacemakers a thing of the past. Results from preliminary studies in Germany have shown that after treatment the heart's ability to pump blood has actually increased.

The problem
Survival rates for heart attacks have increased in recent years but the damage caused can be extremely debilitating. After an attack, the dead heart muscle becomes scar tissue, unable to contract and pump the blood. Breathing difficulties, irregular heartbeats and further heart attacks can result from a weakened heart that is unable to forcefully pump the blood. Every year 660,000 heart attack survivors experience subsequent heart failure because of damaged hearts.

The Procedure

Using the body's own cells to heal itself is the simple concept behind stem cell treatment. The procedure is also surprisingly straightforward and can be done under local anaesthetic, with the patient able to go home a day after surgery.

Step 1
Firstly bone marrow is extracted from the patient with a syringe and the stem cells are separated in the laboratory. Using the patient's own stem cells averts any rejection by their immune system.

Step 2
A tube is then inserted into the patient's groin and fed through to the heart's coronary artery where a balloon is inflated to prevent stem cells from seeping away. The stem cells are then injected through the tube and into the damaged heart muscle.

An ethical solution Embryonic stem cells have the greatest potential for growing into virtually every body tissue, but their use raises serious ethical concerns. There are also specific scientific issues preventing them from being used to treat disease. Adult stem cell therapy avoids these moral and medical concerns, and doctors at the Barts and The London NHS Trust will only remove and process the patient's own stem cells.	Our number one killer Heart disease is the UK's biggest killer, accounting for over 238,000 or one in three deaths per year. To put this into perspective, 34,000 people die from lung cancer in the same period. Nearly all the deaths from heart disease are caused by heart attack. Almost 270,000 people suffer from this trauma every year, one of the highest rates in the developed world.	This is why we urgently need to research adult stem cell therapy in the UK.