NBC News | November 14, 2011 – A new study finds promise in stem cell treatment for heart attack victims. The human body has an amazing ability to repair itself when damaged. Now doctors are finding some success at harnessing those abilities in order to restore heart function after a heart attack.

Virginia Dolan survived a massive heart attack in 2010. The active grandmother faced a life sentence of reduced heart function, limiting her lifestyle.

In a clinical trial at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, doctors took stem cells from her bone marrow, and then injected them into her heart.
When the heart is damaged, the body sends signals to attract stem cells to the heart to help it heal.”The problem is they’re not strong enough to repair heart muscle back to its normal state,” says Dr. Daniel Simon. So doctors take them out of the body, give them some muscle in a lab and inject them directly into the damaged area.

A year later her heart is operating at near normal capacity. Another study from the University of Louisville suggests using cardiac stem cells can improve blood flow and decrease scar tissue following a heart attack.

- Predicted in January 2011 Futurescope