Ischemic Heart Disease

The leading cause for death in a majority of countries including the United States and India is ischemic heart disease. It is estimated that one fifths of deaths in India are a result of cardiovascular diseases which include coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, peripheral arterial disease, rheumatic heart disease and many more. These diseases result largely in ischemic heart failure which, if severe enough, can cause the loss of critical amounts of cardiomyocytes. This can lead to several problems including ventricular wall thinning, increased blood pressure, scarring and eventually death. This creates an unmet need for therapeutic methods of repair of the damaged myocardium. Cardiomyocytes - the cells of the heart muscles, are unable to meet the demand for cell regeneration in the affected tissue. Other options such as mechanical implants or heart transplants are insufficient and complicated.

These problems narrow our options greatly. We
Thus there is no consistent data for treatment. I would propose a trial period of treatment wherein a selected muscle such as a soleus or gluteus medius is punctured lightly and suitable stem cells are delivered to the puncture to see how the patient’s body reacts to them. Stem cell behaviour can also be monitored using stem cells with the green fluorescent protein gene.

A third major challenge is screening the cells for treatment. As stem cells are primarily pleuripotent, any differentiated cells used for repair of the heart tissue could lead to the development of a tumour. The stem cells must be thoroughly purified before administration to avoid complications in their clinical application.

Although we are faced with several problems as the use of stem cells in tissue repair is still in its infancy, research in the field is widespread and intense which does give this concept a chance at furthering regenerative