Scientists in Carolina in January praised a new stem cell treatment which helps repair heart muscle damage, is ethical and also less risky than other techniques.
A team of researchers successfully implanted synthetic cardiac stem cells for the first time, providing hope for patients who have suffered a heart attack. The cells are made by combining a synthetic polymer with proteins from adult human cardiac stem cells, not ones made from embryos. The latter treatments carry a risk of cancer. The cells used in this ethical treatment do not. Stem cells from a patient’s own pelvis were used in the UK in December to allow a woman to walk up to five miles where previously she couldn’t even bend her ankles due to Achilles tendinopathy.
