Aug. 30, 2000
Imagine stimulating the heart with a special drug so that it literally grows new arteries around clogged ones!
Science Specialist Ed Yeates reports a Salt Lake hospital will soon begin selecting specific heart patients to try out this genetic mixture.
These heart attack patients have all had succesful bypass surgeries.
But what about those whose arteries are so clogged they've run out of options?
Enter a genetic recipe that simply tells the heart muscle to grow new blood vessels that detour around the clogged ones.
ED YEATES, SCIENCE SPECIALIST: "THE REMARKABLE ADVANTAGE FOR SOME PATIENTS WHERE BYPASS SURGERY IS NOT AN OPTION - THIS GENE THERAPY CAN BE INJECTED DIRECTLY INTO THE AFFECTED AREA OF THE HEART."
BRENT MUHLESTEIN, M.D., CARDIAC RESEARCH, LDS HOSPITAL: "THERE IS SOME HEART MUSCLE THAT ACTS LIKE IT'S DEAD BECAUSE IT IS GETTING SUCH A SMALL AMOUNT OF BLOOD FLOW, WHICH IF WE CAN GET BLOOD FLOW TO IT AGAIN, THEN IT CAN SORT OF COME OUT OF HYBERNATION AND START WORKING AGAIN."
LDS Hospital is among only a handful of medical centers which will soon begin clinical trials on a selected group of heart patients to find out how well this drug called vascularendiothelial growth factor - works!
Early studies at Tufts University in Boston show the new arteries not only dramatically revived areas of a blood starved heart - but they grew quickly within just a few days.
"THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT I KNOW OF THAT THEY HAVE DONE THIS DIRECT INJECTION OF THE DNA INTO THE HEART MUSCLE OF A PATIENT AND DOCUMENTED THAT IT IMPROVED BLOOD FLOW TO THAT HEART."
For now patients who've run out of options are the only ones eligible for the study. But if the DNA drug proves itself in that group..
"POTENTIALLY IN THE FUTURE IT MAY ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR BYPASS SURGERY IN PATIENTS WHICH BYPASS SURGERY WOULD WORK."
For these heart rehab patients who've had numerous bypass surgeries, that's the kind of future they're hoping for.
RON ASH / HEART BYPASS PATIENT: "LIKE I TOLD MY DOCTOR, 'DOCTOR LONG, COME UP WITH SOMETHING NEW.' SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE TRYING."
There's a possible risk the DNA drug may stimulate vessel growth in places where patients don't want it - such as the eyes. Researchers will be watching for that in clinical trials but so far they've seen no evidence to back it up.
