Dr. Smith’s story is not atypical. ‘I had a massive coronary a little over five years ago and after three years began the descent into heart failure. I was on all the medicines; the alpha and beta blockers, the ace inhibitors, platelet tablets, fish oil and aspirin, but still going downhill and I was not a candidate for a heart transplant,’
After consulting the company’s cardiologist in the U.S. Dr. Smith was clearly of the opinion that his myocardial muscle regeneration had outgrown the microcirculation in the heart. ‘It was not the big blood vessels that were the problem, but the small ones. We felt that the second procedure with a catheter injection of stem cells directly into the coronary arteries would assist the regrowth of small blood vessels’ he said. His local cardiologist agreed as all he could offer was further juggling of medications.
The patient and a medical friend were very impressed with the staff and the equipment at Bangkok Hospital. The equipment to give him a radioactive scan of his heart was state-of-the-
Dr. Smith is certain that stem cells to aid microvascularization will get him back to playing tennis. All he could do before the first procedure was walk the dog for a block and then sit down. He could read but was unable to do any of the things he enjoyed, like bike riding, tennis and working in the yard. ‘My life was closing in on me. There comes a point where the medicines no longer give you a quality of life and, of course, heart transplants are reserved for the young. And so, you run out of slack and you run out of options,’ he said.
Researching via the Internet and talking to patients who have had adult stem cell therapy is an option patients in heart failure should consider, according to this doctor. ‘The improvements ex-patients will talk about are certainly not psychological because they will be able to give objective results like how far they can walk for six minutes and how much more blood is ejected in each contraction of the heart,’ he counseled.
The field of regenerative medicine using patients’ own stem cells is growing rapidly and hundreds of no-option heart failure patients have benefited to date. ‘If you know you can extract cells that will generate new blood vessels, and certainly from the studies so far it has proven extremely successful, why it is not being used more in the U.S. is beyond me. With the rise we are experiencing in diabetes and peripheral artery disease it should be a grab for people. I have seen beautiful pictures of the increase in circulation in the feet of diabetics that save these patients from amputation. Maybe the word is not yet out well enough,’ he said.
