French Surgeons Graft Muscle Cells Into Ailing Heart

      PARIS, Oct 17 (AFP) - French surgeons announced Tuesday they had injected cells from a thigh muscle into the damaged heart of a 72-year-old man in a pioneering operation that could offer hope to people with severe cardiac problems.

      The operation, which took place on June 30 in Paris, has been a success, said Michel Desnos, a member of the team at the Boucicaut/Pompidou hospital here.

      Tests show that the cells are alive, the heart''s pumping action is stronger and there have been no unwarranted side effects, he said.

      "It is the first time that a patient has been given cell therapy directly in the heart," Desnos said.

      The patient, who has not been named, had had a history of heart attacks that had weakened muscles in his left ventricule, which pumps blood out of the organ.

      He was considered too old to have a heart transplant, which prompted doctors to try an experimental technique in cell growth, devised by the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Desnos told AFP.

      In May, doctors took a tiny piece of quadriceps muscle from the man''s thigh, taking so-called dormant myoblasts -- cells that are capable of regenerating muscle fibre.

      The cells were then grown in a culture, until the team had 800 million cells to hand, which were injected into the failed muscle tissue during a heart bypass, he said.

      Doctors said it was far too early to say whether the therapy would replace heart transplants.

      However, it offered great potential for helping people with chronic cardiac problems who, for various reasons, could not be given a transplant, they said.

      Eight other French patients have been lined up for the injections.

      The operation was led by Philippe Menasche of the Bichat hospital, helped by doctors from the Boucicaut/Pompidou, Pitie-Salpetriere and Saint-Louis hospitals, also in Paris.

      Heart disease is a severe health problem in developed countries. Four million people in the United States suffer from cardiac insufficiency, of whom 400,000 die each year, according to official figures.

     

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