Regeneration of a damaged heart is possible through stem cells derived from a patient's own fat tissues, according to Dr Karl Groth, chairman and CEO, Bioheart Inc., a US-based company that is an investment of a Middle Eastern medical fund from Ascent Technologies. He said that the procedure has three critical advantages. Firstly, the technique limits damage to heart muscle after an acute injury, such as a heart attack. Secondly, the cells serve as a catalyst for new vessel formation. Thirdly, the system used for obtaining stem cells is an easier and faster procedure with minimal intervention.

Bioheart has developed a fully-automated, point-of-care system that recovers potentially regenerative stem cells from a patient's own adipose tissue in 60 minutes.

"The CE Mark-approved, TGI 1200 System is able to obtain adipose derived stem cells (ASCs) from fat tissue located in the patient's own abdomen, eliminating the need for the painful and expensive bone marrow extractions that have been used in competitors' stem-cell treatment for cardiovascular therapy said Dr Goth.

"This milestone means that the intervention by the medical team is greatly reduced, and this in turn means a faster, safer procedure which can be over within an hour," Dr Goth confirmed.

Bioheart, in collaboration with Hospital de Clinicas Caracas in Caracas, Venezuela, has commenced four different studies utilising the ASCs. These are during a coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedure, percutaneous delivery of cells in chronic heart ischemia, delivery of cells after an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), and delivery of cells in critical limb ischemia.

"The Hospital de Clinicas is extremely excited to be a part of this cutting-edge technology and welcomes the studies," said Dr. Nusen Beer, MD, a cardiologist who has been successfully using this method in the treatment of cardiac patients.

Dr. Groth went on to say that this breakthrough will bring new possibilities of damage repair and cell regeneration in diseases related to cardiac dysfunction.

"One immediate positive impact is the possibility of increasing blood supply to the damaged area and preventing scarring," he concluded.

Bioheart's TGI 1200 System:

It is a fully-automated, point-of-care system that recovers potentially regenerative stem cells from a patient's own adipose tissue in about an hour, with minimal operator intervention. Adipose tissue is collected from the patient's abdomen and processed in the TGI 1200 System which separates out and collects adipose stem cells.

The CE mark approved system is distributed by Bioheart under an exclusive license from Tissue Genesis, Inc., accepts adipose tissue from the same device used for liposuctioning the tissue from the patient. The compact desktop unit readily fits into any clinical environment and uses preconfigured disposables for quick and easy operation.

The medical condition myocardial ischemia

• Is a disorder that is usually caused by a critical coronary artery obstruction, which is also known as atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD).

• CAD is the leading cause of death worldwide, and it is the second most common cause of emergency department visits in the United States.

• Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a type of surgery called revascularization used to improve blood flow to the heart in people with severe coronary artery disease (CAD).

• CABG is the most common type of open-heart surgery in the United States, with more than 500,000 surgeries performed each year.

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heart-possible-through-r1565915.htm