 Cardiology (heart and vessels) and stem cells
Infarct, atherosclerosis, ischemia, heart insufficiency, hypertension, myocardiodystrophy
Stem cells are widely used by the treatment of infarct and rehabilitation after infarct. Getting into damaged heart stem cells turn into the cells of cardiac muscle, renewing lost functions.
Stem cells and cellular medicines are widely used for the treatment of cardio-vascular diseases:
myocardial infarction (rehabilitation after infarct, infarct prevention);
atherosclerosis and its complications;
ischemic disease;
myocardiodystrophy;
heart insufficiency;
hypertension;
vascular diseases;
neurocirculatory dystonia
genetic predisposition to thrombosis and their prevention.
Application of stem cells allows to reduce the dose of chemomedicines and painful syndromes, normalizes blood pressure and atherogenesis indices.
Therapy has no expressed side effects, is well tolerated by the patients, doesn't require any surgical interventions and has a long-lasting medical effect.
Treatment of myocardial infarction and ischemia using stem cells
Prevention of myocardial infarction, rehabilitation after infarct, treatment of ischemia
It is already established that cardio-vascular diseases take the first place among the reasons of mortality in the developed countries. 62% of mortality cases caused by cardio-vascular diseases is connected with disorder of the main heart function- pumping: myocardial infarction, ischemia. Thus, one of the main problems of all economically developed countries is not only rehabilitation after the infarct but also infarct prevention.
Today there exist many methods for the treatment of ischemia, rehabilitation after myocardial infarction and infarct prevention: from medical correction and surgical operation to regenerative therapy using stem cells.
Transplantation of stem cells and modern methods for the treatment of cardio-vascular diseases
Modern methods for the treatment of cardio-vascular diseases can be divided into 4 groups:
- Prevention of thrombosis and atherosclerosis
- Transplantation of the entire organ (heart transplantation) and attaching of automatic artificial left ventricle of the heart
- Limitation of the damaged area and maintenance of undamaged one. It is, probably, the most popular method. It includes thrombolytic therapy in case of infarct; effective nonsurgical method in treatment of ischemia - percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and operative treatment - coronary artery grafting.
- Transplantation of stem cells
All these methods have their advantages and disadvantages: contra-indications and side effects of traditional drug therapy, necessity of immunosuppressive therapy, deficiency of donor's material, high costs of treatment, technical complexity of operation carried out in a limited number of medical centres - in case of surgical interventions. Transplantation of stem cells is an effective method for the treatment of different diseases, including cardio-vascular.
The best result using this method was achieved by application of patient's autologous cells. The effectiveness of this method for myocardial infarction, ischemia, cerebral circulatory insufficiency is already established. Availability of autologous cells, safety and effectiveness of this method by the treatment of different diseases makes stem cells transplantation very promising.
Renewal and replacement of damaged or lost cells in different human organs and tissues is the result of stem cells transplantation. In case of cardio-vascular diseases that means that stem cells differentiate into heart cells as well as into vascular cells (thus, take place in angiogenesis).
Application of stem cells in cardiology has been especially investigated in the last 5-7 years, mostly due to discoveries in cellular biology. Thus, in 1995 cardiomyocytes were received from embryonic stem cells, 4 years ago - from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. 3 years ago it became clear that bone marrow stem cells have more advantages since they have a very important property- they can stimulate formation of new vessels (angiogenesis) and intensify blood supply to ischemic areas. Stem cells can turn to new myocardial cells and, if necessary, to blood vessels.
Stem cells injection by the treatment of cardio-vascular diseases
There are different methods of stem cells injection:
The first group of methods - intramuscular injection (injection of stem cells)
The second - intracoronary injection (into heart vessels);
The third - all other methods, including injection of stem cells into patient's peripheric channel.
Each method has its advantages connected with type of disease, age, type of tissue-target, etc., that's why the method of injection is defined for each patient individually.
Results of clinical application of bone marrow stem cells are promising since it can achieve: prevention of the development of postinfarction cardiac aneurysm, prevention of remodelating processes of the left ventricle and spread of necrosis focus, improvement of heart pumping function.
The injection of stem cells into human adult body and their engraftment among ageing and pathologically changed body cells activates factors of development and renewal, cells continue to operate, divide and produce biologically active substances for a long period of time, even years.
Treatment of ischemia and infarct using stem cells - IBMED approach
The Institute of Biological Medicine applies its own methods for the treatment of ischemia, infarct, other cardio-vascular diseases using stem cells. The treatment is carried out using patient's own cells (autologous cells). This method is an original one since different differentiated factors, including peptide bioregulators, are used for stimulation of growth and differentiation of patient's own stem cells.
Success of the treatment is connected with complex approach, application of modern medicines which act on the nature of disease, on cellular and molecular disorders. One of the main problems of cellular therapy is the fact that stem cells injected into the patient's blood flow must be evenly distributed in the whole body. The Institute of Biological Medicine applies special differentiated factors for concentration of stem cells, thus, providing regeneration of damaged heart tissues, formation of new vascular wall and renewal of blood flow in ischemic tissues.
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