City cardiologist develops cardiac stem cell therapy

Ahmedabad, Oct 16 (UNI) For the first time in Gujarat, Dr Shalin Thakore, a city-based cardiologist, today claimed to have successfully done stem cell therapy on a cardiac patient here.

Dr Thakore and his team conducted the therapy on June 18 on a patient, who had a poor pumping functioning of the heart. The patient had only 30 per cent pumping function of the heart which has improved to 55 per cent with the stem cell therapy, claims Dr Thakore.

Talking to reporters here, he said,'' The improvement from 30 to 55 per cent in pumping after 3 months' of the treatment is a phenomenal success in the field of cardiology. If similar success is achieved in other cases as well, then it could revolutionise the treatment of heart, and cardiac arrest could be prevented.'' Stem cells are cells which are derived from the human body and have a unique property of differentiating into specialised cells under controlled environment. Scientists have been successful in culturing stem cells derived from the bone marrow, Dr Thakore said.

This kind of treatment, popularly known as stem cell therapy, has ignited a ray of hope for treatment of various diseases like congestive heart failure, muscular dystrophies, diabetes mellitus, kidney diseases and peripheral vascular diseases, he added.

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