Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital Seeks Patients for Adult Stem Cell Studies
HOUSTON (September 12, 2006) -- The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is recruiting patients for three clinical trials involving adult stem cells taken from the patient’s own bone marrow.
One study focuses on patients who have severe coronary artery disease. These patients must have exhausted all other treatments such as bypass surgery or angioplasty with stents. Another study seeks to treat patients within four or five days of a heart attack. For both of these studies, patients should be 70 years of age or younger and have no history of cancer. Patients who are randomly assigned to placebo treatment in these studies will have the option of receiving the actual treatment after six months of evaluation.
A third study seeks patients who have been diagnosed with chronic limb ischemia, or bad blood supply to the legs. These patients also must be 70 years or younger and have exhausted all medically accepted treatment options. These patients typically have vessels which are too small to be treated with stents or have blockages in areas that are inaccessible by catheter. Patients who are appropriate for this study will have an ankle brachial index of less than .5 (the difference between blood pressure in the ankle and the arm). All patients in this study will receive treatment, with some patients randomly assigned to a more subspecialized population of stem cells.
With all of these studies, stem cells are extracted from the patient’s bone marrow and processed a few hours before they are injected at the treatment site through a catheter which is guided through the femoral artery. The treatments for heart patients require an overnight stay for observation and patients are then evaluated at regular intervals. No overnight hospital stay is required for patients treated for chronic limb ischemia. These clinical trials cover investigation-related costs.
To be considered for these clinical trials, contact the Stem Cell Center at 832-355-9404 or email plea@heart.thi.tmc.edu. Additional information about the Stem Cell Center’s research can be found at www.texasheart.org/stemcell.
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The Texas Heart Institute, founded by world-renowned cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Denton A. Cooley in 1962, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the devastating toll of cardiovascular disease through innovative and progressive programs in research, education and improved patient care. Together with its clinical partner, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, it has been ranked among the top ten cardiovascular centers in the United States by U.S. News & World Report’s annual guide to “America’s Best Hospitals” for the past 16 years. The Texas Heart Institute is also affiliated with The University of Texas (UT) System, which promotes collaboration in cardiovascular research and education among UT and THI faculty at the Texas Heart Institute and other UT components. For more information about the Institute, please visit www.texasheart.org.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System comprises the flagship St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas; St. Luke’s Community Medical Center–The Woodlands, opened in 2003; St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, a charity devoted to assessing and enhancing community health, especially among the underserved; and Kelsey-Seybold Management, LLP, overseeing 21 area clinic locations. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is home to the Texas Heart Institute. Affiliated with several nursing schools and two medical schools, St. Luke’s serves as the primary adult teaching hospital for Baylor College of Medicine. St. Luke’s was the first hospital in Texas named a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, and the Health System has been recognized by FORTUNE as among “100 Best Companies to Work For” and by Houston Business Journal as a top employer in Houston. For more information about St. Luke’s, please visit www.stlukestexas.com.
