Tue Jan 25, 2005 09:08 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bone marrow cells infused to the heart through tiny incisions helped several severe heart failure patients get markedly better, an international team of researchers reported on Tuesday.
While the doctors are not sure just what the cells did, the patients who got the treatment saw their heart function improve to nearly healthy levels.
The study, presented to a meeting in Florida of the Society for Thoracic Surgery, is the latest of a series of different experiments that show so-called adult stem cells seem to be able to help repair a damaged heart.
Dr. Amit Patel of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and colleagues at the Asociacion Espanola Primera de Socorros Mutuos in Montevideo, Uruguay, the Benetti Foundation in Rosario, Argentina, and Baylor University in Texas worked on 30 volunteers.
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