Today's headlines carry the exciting news how 'a dead heart beats again'! Amazing, yes. Researchers from the University of Minnesota namely Prof. Doris Taylor and her team, acheived the feat by a unique method: The stripped the heart of a dead rat of all cells, leaving the extra-cellular matrix and hence the 'backbone' of the structure alone intact. They repopulated this 'skeleton' with immature cells. Four days later contractions were observed. Eight days later, the world's first 'bio-artificial' heart was pumping, though at an efficiency of 2% compared to the adult heart!
Stem cells are certainly the way to fairy-lore in medicine. The problem yet to be overcome appears to me to be how to make these cells learn to fuction physiologically like the cells they successfully anatomically replicate. Stem cells become myocardiac cells, but they need to learn to function like the myocardium. Let us hope this break-through comes up sooner than later, for the benefit of the thousands who need them!
In the meanwhile, if anyone has news on any more/other break-throughs in on-going stem cell research in India or elsewhere to treat cardiac failure, peripheral vascular disease, paraplegia, chronic renal failure, cirrhosis or diabetes mellitus, do share your information in the 'comments' section.
Hopefully, this site can serve to link patients and physicians in such crucial areas on the cutting edge of medicine.
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Rufus said...
There may be a breakthrough in stem cell research on the cards sometime now or later, but this blog of yours is a breakthrough... I was just telling my wife about how doctors can be selfless and have the nobleness to share their vibes with the vast community of dedicated online readers, and thus not only establish a rapport between doctor and layman, doctor and patient, doctor and professionals from other fields... but also crystallise their heartscape for a cause... First, our kudos to such a noble endeavour. Your thoughts and vibes have, and continue to stir chords of enlightenment for the readers, and respect for the medical fraternity, and look up to you all...
January 15, 2008 9:49 PM
Hi Rufus!
Great to see you here! Do keep posting, its good for docs also to know and feel vibes of patients (ever so often the good docs are in danger of slipping into 'patient in bed no. 3 or the guy with the gall stones or the girl who had Mitral valve replacement' syndrome!).
I hope everyone finds common ground to connect here!
Dennisa
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