IT'S NOT ABOUT WHAT WORKS:

Stem cell treatment offers hope for cardiac patients (NetDoctor, 11/09/04)

Scientists yesterday suggested that they could within a few years help cardiac patients repair and regenerate their hearts by using stem or parent cells from their own organs.

They think they have developed a way of harvesting cells from sick patients and then multiplying them in laboratories into sufficient numbers for treatment.

The cell collection technique, involving probes being sent through a vein in the neck to the right ventricle of the heart, has already been used on 23 patients undergoing treatment for heart failure, an American conference was told.

Tests using pig heart stem cells and tissue have suggested scientists could develop from these clusters, called cardiospheres, new cells that are able to generate electricity and contract, key properties of healthy tissue and essential for any future tackling of heart failure.

Meanwhile the Death Lobby is chasing embryonic cells for purely ideological reasons.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 14, 2004 9:31 AM