Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

Case Study: Stem Cells vs Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery in a Patient with Multi-Vessel Disease 6 Year Follow Up

Stem cells outperform heart bypass surgery. A heart patient treated with his own stem cells instead of undergoing coronary bypass surgery is exceeding all expectations 6 years after his adult stem cell treatment.

In 2008, Howie Lindeman, then 58 years old, was facing open heart bypass surgery for three blocked coronary arteries. Lindeman, now 64, had his first heart attack at age 39 that severely damaged his heart. He went through multiple procedures over the last several years including having several stents placed in his blocked arteries. When he developed almost constant chest pain and struggled to walk just 25 feet his doctors decided to perform another heart catheterization. They found severe disease; two arteries were 100% blocked and the remaining one was at 80%. Cardiac bypass surgery was immediately recommended.

Lindeman was not quite ready to have his chest cracked open, so he sought alternative options. He was aware of successful treatments for single blocked arteries with stem cells. Determined to avoid surgery he inquired as to the possibility of stem cell treatment for his condition. Dr. Zannos Grekos, a cardiologist with Regenocyte, agreed to treat him as a case study with the understanding that if the treatment was not successful bypass surgery was his only option. Lindeman was treated with his own stem cells in March of 2008. Within one week of the stem cell procedure Lindeman was feeling much better and returned to fulltime work. His subsequent cardiac testing showed continued improvement up to one year later and now 6 years after his procedure he has had no further cardiac events, his heart tests have remained stable and he continues to work fulltime as a sound engineer touring the world.

I have a high stress, high energy job that I absolutely love, says Lindeman. The treatment has allowed me to continue my career and enjoy the active lifestyle I thought I had lost for good. Im a new person and I continue to feel better every day. Click here to see a video of Howie Lindeman.

The Regenocyte treatment is an outpatient procedure and after a period of observation, the patients then are typically discharged from the hospital. The patient is followed up regularly with testing to monitor their progress and measure their results. Lindemans follow up nuclear cardiac stress testing show a greater than 100% improvement in exercise capacity and improved myocardial perfusion. A heart catheterization performed a year after treatment showed a significant increase in heart function and new blood vessels. Lindemans progress was last reported in December 2011.

Dr. Grekos describes how stem cells are extracted from the patient and then processed in a laboratory. The stem cells are then activated and educated to heal the damaged heart. The lab process provides a key step in Regenocytes treatment success, Dr. Grekos explained. The lab extracts the stem cells from the sample and activates them into over a billion cells while educating them to assist the area of the body that needs treatment. These activated stem cells are known as Regenocytes (regenerative cells). The whole process takes about 3 days.

In this ground-breaking treatment, Dr. Zannos Grekos, an interventional cardiologist, inserted a catheter into Lindemans heart. Over the next 20 minutes, adult stem cells were introduced into the damaged part of his heart. The process of tissue repair begins almost immediately.

We continue to see remarkable results from adult stem cell treatment, said Grekos. Successes like those weve seen with Howie are common and show significant promise for diseases in other organs.

Dr. Grekos and the Regenocyte medical team continue to research the impact of adult stem cell therapy on heart disease. For more information on Regenocyte Adult Stem Cell procedures, upcoming seminars, and to see videos featuring Lindeman, visit http://www.regenocyte.com.

Continued here:
Case Study: Stem Cells vs Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery in a Patient with Multi-Vessel Disease 6 Year Follow Up

Systemic lupus erythermatosus, often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease (or autoimmune connective tissue disease) that can affect any part of the body. As occurs in other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the bodys cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage.[2] SLE most often harms the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and nervous system. The course of the disease is unpredictable, with periods of illness (called flares) alternating with remissions. The disease occurs nine times more often in women than in men, especially women in child-bearing years ages 15 to 35, and is more common in those of non-European descent.[3] [4] [5]

In SLE, the bodys immune system produces antibodies against itself, particularly against proteins in the cell nucleus. SLE is triggered by environmental factors that are unknown.

All the key components of the immune system are involved in the underlying mechanisms [of SLE] according to Rahman, and SLE is the prototypical autoimmune disease. The immune system must have a balance (homeostasis) between being sensitive enough to protect against infection, and being too sensitive and attacking the bodies own proteins (autoimmunity). From an evolutionary perspective, according to Crow, the population must have enough genetic diversity to protect itself against a wide range of possible infection; some genetic combinations result in autoimmunity. The likely environmental triggers include ultraviolet light, drugs, and viruses. These stimuli cause the destruction of cells and expose their DNA, histones, and other proteins, particularly parts of the cell nucleus. Because of genetic variations in different components of the immune system, in some people the immune system attacks these nuclear-related proteins and produces antibodies against them. In the end, these antibody complexes damage blood vessels in critical areas of the body, such as the glomeruli of the kidney; these antibody attacks are the cause of SLE. Researchers are now identifying the individual genes, the proteins they produce, and their role in the immune system. Each protein is a link on the autoimmune chain, and researchers are trying to find drugs to break each of those links.[3] [6]

SLE is treated by addressing its symptoms by, mainly with cyclophosphamide, corticosteroids and immunosuppressants; there is currently no cure. SLE can be fatal, although with recent medical advances, fatalities are becoming increasingly rare. Survival for people with SLE in the United States, Canada, and Europe is approximately 95% at five years, 90% at 10 years, and 78% at 20 years.[5]

The approach of treating the symptoms exclusively and primarily by utilizing drugs has been the mainstay in medical therapies for years. With the many new findings in stem cell research the autoimmune components of SLE may be reset or adequately modified to modulate this disorder. Some of the newer studies are presented below. The resetting of immune functions is also found in many of the other stem cell treatments of autoimmune diseases, which we encourage you to review.

Autologous Stem-Cell Transplant Phases :

After a review of your medical records and discussions with medical staff, a protocol is designed especially for you. Specifics of your condition are addressed along with any special needs. It may be similar to the one illustrated below:

Day 1:

At the clinic you will be examined by our physicians. Information including any risks and expectations concerning your treatment, plus answers to any questions you may have will be addressed. A blood draw, to determine cell counts and other chemistries will be collected and cell expansion medication may be administered. Then you will return to your hotel for a restful day or a good nights sleep.

Day 2:

Originally posted here:
Stem Cells LupusStem Cell Treatments

Freeport, Bahamas (PRWEB) July 15, 2014

Okyanos Heart Institute, a leader in cardiac adult stem cell therapy, has selected Perkins Healthcare Technologies to provide video integration solutions for its new state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization lab. The video integration system is paired with Phillips equipment, creating a top-grade comprehensive solution for the cath lab by providing the ability to view high definition clinical cardiac procedures video information on a large screen collaged layout 8-megapixel display. Built to US surgical standards, the lab equipment is being installed over the next few weeks, bringing the highest standard of care and most advanced technology to cardiac care.

Okyanos Heart Institute utilizes adult stem cells derived from ones own adipose (fat) tissue, placing them in the heart to help it repair damaged or diseased tissue. This is done using a minimally invasive catheterization procedure, as demonstrated in multiple rigorous clinical trials from around the world.

Okyanos Chief Medical Officer Howard T. Walpole, Jr., M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.C., F.A.C.A.I. noted, The most important functions of the video integration system are to provide high quality images with the right projections of the image. When you visualize a heart, you need to be able to get a complex angle to see the back side of the heart. This enables the cardiologist to deliver the stem cells where they are most needed. The size of the image detector is smaller and the more flexible positioner makes it easier to pivot around the patients body to obtain those difficult views.

Perkins Healthcare Technologies has been providing clinical video integration solutions for over 25 years and looks forward to bringing its expertise to Okyanos Heart Institute. We are very excited to have our state-of-the-art video integration system included as a part of this innovative solution for cardiac care. Our video integration system provides Okyanos a flexible solution to meet its staff needs, said Steve Plaugher, COO of Perkins Healthcare Technologies. Instead of having to assimilate patient data from multiple sources and locations, the staff can now access and view this information in their respective work area in an instant.

The combination of Okyanos adult stem cell treatments and Perkins state-of-the-art video integration solutions are designed to enhance patient care, improve the quality of life and deliver an exceptional patient experience.

To learn more about Okyanos and cardiac stem cell therapy, take a few minutes to view this video or visit http://www.Okyanos.com.

To learn more about Perkins and its clinical video integration and control technology, visit http://www.PerkinsHealthcareTechnologies.com for information on Perkins Solutions.

About Okyanos Heart Institute: (Oh key AH nos) Based in Freeport, Grand Bahama, Okyanos Heart Institutes mission is to bring a new standard of care and a better quality of life to patients with coronary artery disease using cardiac stem cell therapy. Okyanos adheres to U.S. surgical center standards and is led by CEO Matt Feshbach and Chief Medical Officer Howard T. Walpole Jr., M.D., M.B.A., F.A.C.C., F.A.C.A.I. Okyanos Treatment utilizes a unique blend of stem and regenerative cells derived from ones own adipose (fat) tissue. The cells, when placed into the heart via a minimally-invasive catheterization, stimulate the growth of new blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis. Angiogenesis facilitates blood flow in the heart and supports intake and use of oxygen (as demonstrated in rigorous clinical trials such as the PRECISE trial). The literary name Okyanos, the Greek god of rivers, symbolizes restoration of blood flow.

About Perkins Healthcare Technologies: Perkins Healthcare Technologies has designed, developed, manufactured and distributed clinical video integration solutions for more than 25 years. Perkins vendor neutral video integration solutions work seamlessly with new or existing imaging, surgical, or hybrid procedure suites; complementing the functionality, improving workflow, and providing critical patient information to the stakeholder where and when they need it.

See the rest here:
Okyanos & Perkins Partner for Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy Innovation

Experts say a $15 million trial to explore stem cells from cord blood for treating autism is premature.

Cold comfort: Researchers are trying to find out whether stem cells taken from frozen cord blood can improve autism symptoms. Credit:Tbsdy lives via Wikimedia Commons

A team at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, is set to launch a $40 million clinical trial to explore stem cells from umbilical cord blood as a treatment for autism. But experts caution that the trial is premature.

A $15 million grant from the Marcus Foundation, a philanthropic funding organization based in Atlanta, will bankroll the first two years of the five-year trial, which also plans to test stem cell therapy for stroke and cerebral palsy. The autism arm of the trial aims to enroll 390 children and adults.

Joanne Kurtzberg, the trials lead investigator, has extensive experience studying the effectiveness of cord blood transplants for treating various disorders, such as leukemia and sickle cell anemia. Most recently, she showed that cord blood transplants can improve the odds of survival for babies deprived of oxygen at birth. A randomized trial of the approach for this condition is underway.

To really sort out if [stem] cells can treat these children, we need to do randomized, controlled trials that are well designed and well controlled, and thats what we intend to do, says Kurtzberg, professor of pediatrics and pathology at Duke. We firmly believe we should be moving ahead in the clinic.

Early animal studies have shown that stem cells isolated from umbilical cord blood can stimulate cells in the spinal cord to regrow their myelin layers, and in doing so help restore connections with surrounding cells. Autism is thought to result from impaired connectivity in the brain. Because of this, some groups of children with the disorder may benefit from a stem cell transplant, Kurtzberg says.

But others are skeptical of the approach. Autism is a complex disorder with many possible causes. Also, its unclear how stem cells derived from cord blood can improve connections in the brain. Given these important caveats, its too soon to conduct a test of this scale and investment, some experts say.

Its probably premature to run large trials without evidence that they have a therapeutic effect that [we] understand, cautions Arnold Kriegstein, director of the Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the University of California, San Francisco.

Pilot trials In June, Kurtzberg launched the first phase of the trial, with 20 children between 2 and 5 years of age. Her team plans to infuse the children with a single dose of their own cord blood cells, banked at birth and preserved by freezing.

Read this article:
Large Study of Stem Cells for Autism Draws Criticism

Attendees at a fundraiser for Parkinson's patients enjoy food and the setting sun at the home of Jeffrey Strauss, owner of the Pamplemousse Grill. The proceeds help Summit4StemCell.org.

A bold experiment to relieve Parkinson's disease symptoms for many years faces a Nov. 4 deadline to raise a total of $2.5 million. That money will allow the group running the project to get matching funds from California's stem cell agency.

Thanks to the owner/chef of Pamplemousse Grill and a number of donors, the group just took a giant step toward that goal.

The group, Summit4StemCell.org, has been holding events for years to raise money to research the therapy, which will use skin cells from eight patients to form new brain cells. The cells will be implanted in the patients' brains to replace the cells destroyed in Parkinson's that make the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Supporters and some patients have climbed atop Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa and to Base Camp at Mt. Everest, as well as holding local fundraisers. That money has advanced the research so it's feasible to try it in the patients. But more money is needed to pay for the treatment and related expenses.

So last week, supporters gathered at the home of Jeffrey Strauss, owner of Pamplemousse Grille in Solana Beach.

Proceeds from the $500-a-plate dinner brought in nearly $1 million for the project, said Sherrie Gould, an organizer and project sparkplug. Gould, a nurse practitioner at Scripps Clinic, interfaces between the clinical side, led by neurologist Melissa Houser of Scripps Clinic, and the research side, led by Jeanne Loring, a stem cell scientist at The Scripps Research Institute, and Andres Bratt-Leal of the Parkinsons Association of San Diego. The association is the nonprofit under which Summit4StemCell is held.

"Jeffrey is very close to a couple of our patients, and he literally opened up his home to about 130 people, completely provided food, drink, open bar, wine, wait staff, linens..." Gould said.

Counting in-kind donations, the total raised so far is about $1.5 million, meaning that Summit4StemCell needs to raise another $1 million by September, for a total of $2.5 million, Gould said. With that amount, the group can apply for $2.5 million in matching funds from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

"Funding our mission has been at a grass-roots level, philanthropy, and a few minor grants," the project said in a fundraising email. "With over 900 people donating to the project we have been able to successfully biopsy the patients skin and create dopamine-producing neurons from eight of Dr. Houser's PD patients. We are now comparing cell lines with other researchers' lines, characterizing/purifying the cells, and most exciting: testing the neurons from our patients in an animal model of PD."

Read the original post:
Parkinson's stem cell effort holds fundraiser

University of Wisconsin-Madison

The ability to reliably and safely make in the laboratory all of the different types of cells in human blood is one key step closer to reality.

Writing today in the journal Nature Communications, a group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison stem cell researcher Igor Slukvin reports the discovery of two genetic programs responsible for taking blank-slate stem cells and turning them into both red and the array of white cells that make up human blood.

[ Watch the Video: What Are Stem Cells? ]

The research is important because it identifies how nature itself makes blood products at the earliest stages of development. The discovery gives scientists the tools to make the cells themselves, investigate how blood cells develop and produce clinically relevant blood products.

This is the first demonstration of the production of different kinds of cells from human pluripotent stem cells using transcription factors, explains Slukvin, referencing the proteins that bind to DNA and control the flow of genetic information, which ultimately determines the developmental fate of undifferentiated stem cells.

During development, blood cells emerge in the aorta, a major blood vessel in the embryo. There, blood cells, including hematopoietic stem cells, are generated by budding from a unique population of what scientists call hemogenic endothelial cells. The new report identifies two distinct groups of transcription factors that can directly convert human stem cells into the hemogenic endothelial cells, which subsequently develop into various types of blood cells.

The factors identified by Slukvins group were capable of making the range of human blood cells, including white blood cells, red blood cells and megakaryocytes, commonly used blood products.

By overexpressing just two transcription factors, we can, in the laboratory dish, reproduce the sequence of events we see in the embryo where blood is made, says Slukvin of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center.

The method developed by Slukvins group was shown to produce blood cells in abundance. For every million stem cells, the researchers were able to produce 30 million blood cells.

Original post:
Wisconsin Scientists Find Genetic Recipe To Turn Stem Cells To Blood

Another Success: Treatment of Supraspinatus Tear with StemCells

In a previous blog I discussed the clinical success of rotator cuff repair using expanded stem cell therapy.

Today we had the opportunity to review MRI images of an elderly patient who also underwent the Regenexx procedure 2 years ago for a supraspinatus tear. ABis an 80y/o patient with neck, headache and shouder pain. Her shoulder pain wassevere and she was unable to lift her shoulder. She declined surgery and elected to proceed with mesenchymal stem cell therapy. Her own stem cells were injected into the rotator cuff tear under x-ray guidance.

To understand the differencesin pre and post MRIs, some basic MRIconcepts and anatomy is essential.

The image above is the patients pre-injection coronal MRI. The rotator cuff tendon is the area of interest. The rotator cuff is compromised of 4 principle muscles. Muscles have two parts: the muscle belly and the attachment of the muscle to bone(tendon). Tears in the rotator cuff commonly involve the tendon.

Above are ABs pre and post MRIs . On the left the rotator cuff tendon(red arrows) are bright in color and mottled in appearance. This means that its a full thicknesstear with severe degeneration. On the right is ABs MRI 2 year post stem cell injection. The rotator cuff tendon identified by the yellow arrowsis better organized and darker in color consistent with significant healing. This is consistent with her clinical improvement. She reports 100% improvement in pain and full range of motion.

Like Loading...

The rotator cuff is compromised of 4 principles muscles and theirtendons: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis and teres minor. Collectively they stabilizethe jointand allow for movement . Tendons at the end of the rotator cuff muscles can become torn resulting in pain and restriction in motion. The majority of tears occur in the supraspinatus tendon. Typical presentation includes pain with impaired motion. Surgicaltreatment often involvesarthorscopic repair, subacromial decompression or use of an anchor to secure the tendon to the bone. Surgical complications included fatty atrophy, re-tears of the rotator cuff, infection and failure.

View post:
stem cell therapy for rotator cuff tears | Stemcelldoc's ...