Therapy using leg cells could help heal hearts

When Joe DeSieno’s ailing heart made him too tired to lift a leg, he never dreamed a possible cure could come from his thigh. But this ...

When Joe DeSieno’s ailing heart made him too tired to lift a leg, he never dreamed a possible cure could come from his thigh. But this month, the 65-year-old from McDonough became one of the first people in the US to try a new therapy for diseased hearts that relies on a patient’s thigh muscle.

Doctors at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta removed tissue from his quadriceps, isolated certain cells and grew them in the laboratory. Then they used a catheter to inject millions of the cells into his heart, which had been damaged by two heart attacks.The transplanted cells will create new muscle around the heart, scientists believe, allowing it to pump better.

‘‘I feel lighter and less tired,’’ said DeSieno, who has suffered from fatigue and shortness of breath since his first heart attack 17 years ago.

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The procedure is one of a few approaches in the promising though still largely unproven concept of cell therapy for the heart. Researchers say cells transplanted from other parts can repair hearts weakened by heart attacks, clogged arteries, high blood pressure, valve defects or other conditions.

The Saint Joseph’s doctors, working with the company Bioheart, of Weston, Florida, use thigh muscle cells called myoblasts. Other doctors use stem cells.

The cell therapy is delivered during open-heart surgery or with a catheter —— by inserting the plastic tube through the groin and threading it up to the heart. A needle on the tip of the catheter releases the cells. —NYT

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