Heart transplants can be really challenging. Not only finding a right donor can take forever, but also the entire process is equally risky.
However, researchers in Japan¡¯s Osaka University have come up with a medical breakthrough that could forever eliminate the challenges associated with heart transplant.
Instead of transplanting an entire heart, researchers placed a set of sheets that consisted of heart muscles cells in areas where the heart was damaged. The cells were developed with the help of induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS. They¡¯re created by collecting an adult¡¯s cells -- usually from skin or blood -- and reprogram them to turn them into their embryonic-like pluripotent state.
Once in this state, scientists can turn the cells into whatever they like -- like in this case, they turned it into heart muscle. They then placed the cells onto sheets which are biodegradable in nature, that will disappear with time, leaving the heart muscle cells to complete the healing process.
In the study, the patient that received the cells is suffering from ischemic cardiomyopathy -- a condition where the heart cannot pump blood with the muscles not getting enough blood.
If this condition were to get severe, getting a heart transplant would be the only way out. However, with the cells, the researchers hope that the muscle cells on the sheet will secrete a protein to regenerate blood vessels and heal the heart, giving it the necessary function.
Researcher Yoshiki Sawa said in a statement to the Japan Times, "I hope that (the transplant) will become a medical technology that will save as many people as possible, as I've seen many lives that I couldn't save."?
Researches are going to examine the patient¡¯s progress for the next year and if the transplant and intent to conduct a similar procedure on nine other people suffering from ischemic cardiomyopathy over the coming years.?