Cardiac stem cell trial seeks to treat some heart attac...(that this stem cell therapy will prove s...),Health

All patients arriving at UCSF's Emergency Department with heart attack will continue to be treated with standard measures. Patients who meet the medical criteria for the trial will be able to elect to receive the stem cell therapy within seven days after their heart attack.

To be eligible, male and female patients must be between the ages of 21 and 85, and have a baseline ejection fraction -- the measurement of blood pumped out of the ventricles per heart beat -- between 30 and 45 percent.

The stem cell therapy is delivered to patients via a one-time IV-infusion, performed on-site at UCSF. The infusion takes approximately half an hour. Patients will be followed for two years and progress will be assessed with MRI and ultrasound imaging in addition to the standard battery of cardiac measures, including electrocardiogram (ECG) and heart function monitoring.

The goal of the therapy is to prevent the permanent damage that heart attacks cause. According to the American Heart Association, more than half a million Americans will experience their first heart attack in 2009. Up to six years after a first heart attack, 18 percent of men and 35 percent of women will have another heart attack.

The two-year, Phase II trial will test the safety and efficacy of a stem cell therapy called Prochymal, developed by Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. Results from a Phase I (safety) trial which did not involve UCSF were announced by the company in Feb., 2009 (http://investor.osiris.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=364825).

Despite early promising cardiac stem cell studies conducted at academic medical centers nationally and internationally, researchers still have questions about how stem cells work in the body in order to benefit heart pati
'/>"/>