Man’s Stem Cells Save His Heart
Stem cells are changing medicine. Every day it seems like there is a new story of a person whose life was spared thanks to advances in stem cell research.
Now, John Christy, a Vietnam veteran, becomes the first person in the U.S. to have his own bone marrow stem cells harvested to save his heart.
He thought he was just getting old and becoming tired more easily. But it turns out that he had advanced coronary artery disease.
Dr. Joseph Woo at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has been testing the use of stem cells in animals for five years and recently used the procedure to grow blood vessels around Christy’s heart.
Within two days of surgery, Christy says he had “more oomph.”
Dr. Woo does this transplant in one short surgery, compared to two surgeries weeks apart in Europe.
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