StemLife collaborating with Doctors for Heart Stem Cell Therapy in Malaysia

I'm delighted to share that one of StemLife's collaborating doctors has announced the preliminary results of stem cell therapy for the failing heart in a local Malaysian newspaper.

Essentially, what we were doing was to marry two existing techniques from different medical applications. The first is angioplasty (common in heart patients, this involves the insertion of a catheter through blood vessels of the heart and using a balloon to open a blocked artery) and the harvesting of stem cells via the peripheral vein known as apheresis, routinely performed in many major hospitals for cancer patient treatment worldwide.

The stem cells which were harvested from a blood vessel in the arm, is then returned to a blood vessel in the heart. The stem cells are capable of forming new blood vessels thus provide better support for the heart muscles. This cell conversion ability is thought to be the reason for improved blood flow and restoration of the heart's pumping action (ejection fraction).

What I'd like to point out though, is that although StemLife is the first stem cell company to facilitate this procedure in Malaysia, this procedure and concept is not our own. We've been following stem cell therapy for the heart since we started and the first news that got us quite interested was this article describing peripheral blood stem cell use in heart damage in a young man.

Now, this procedure has been documented in reknown heart institutions in many countries, and patients with heart disease have another option should their current therapies fail to improve their condition or quality of life. Our work is well placed with the Baxter trial that I mentioned in my previous posting. One last thing, although the procedure is pretty safe, the preparation of the cells is important- at StemLife, we've worked out the protocols and are now ready to offer patients the opportunity to bank and use their stem cells for their heart if they wish to.

The Malaysian Star paper carried a follow up article in today's publication. Our work is just beginning and I'll provide more information as we go along. :)