Congenital Heart Disease Treated with Stem Cell Plasters

A heart surgeon claims he ‘probably saved the life’ of a baby by performing a ‘world-first’ operation using placental stem cells.

Highlights:

A child with congenital heart abnormality may have to undergo the same heart procedure numerous times throughout childhood.
The Bristol Heart Institute’s Professor Massimo Caputo employed cutting-edge stem cell injections to fix a baby’s heart abnormality
This technology will reduce the number of operations required for children born with congenital heart diseases

Researchers at the University of Bristol, supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), have developed ‘stem cell plasters’ to alter the way surgeons treat children with congenital heart disease, reducing the number of open-heart surgeries required.

Cyanotic Heart Disease - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Cyanotic heart disease is a group of congenital heart defects which occurs due to deoxygenated blood bypassing the lungs and entering the systemic circulation.

‘A stem cell scaffold is created using a bio-printer to fix defects in blood vessel valves and to heal gaps between the infant’s heart’s two major pumping chambers. ’

Congenital Heart Defects in Infants

Heart defects are the most frequent type of prenatal abnormalities, with approximately 13 babies diagnosed with a congenital heart issue every day in the UK. These include problems in the baby’s cardiac valves, main blood veins in and around the heart, and the formation of heart holes.

Congenital Heart Disease – Septal Defects
Heart diseases that are present at birth are called “ Congenital heart diseases”.

Current Treatment of Congenital Heart Diseases

Currently, surgeons can conduct open-heart surgery on many of these infants to temporarily correct the condition, but the materials used for patches or new heart valves are not biological and cannot develop with the baby. This means that they may be rejected by the patient’s immune system, causing the surgical materials to gradually degrade and fail over months or years.

As a result, a child may have to undergo the same heart procedure numerous times throughout childhood, which can keep them in the hospital for weeks at a time, negatively impacting their quality of life and causing a lot of stress for the family.

Mothers of Babies With Congenital Heart Disease At Higher Risk Of Heart Problems Later
Study finds that mothers of babies born with congenital heart disease (CHD) may be at increased risk of developing heart disease later in life.

New Stem Cell Therapy to Treat Defect in Heart Valve

Professor Massimo Caputo of the BHF has developed the first stem cell patch to repair defects in the valve in the big blood channel that controls blood flow from the heart to the lungs, as well as to fix holes between the heart’s two main pumping chambers.

During surgery, the stem cell plasters are sewn into the portion of the child’s heart that needs to be repaired. The stem cells could then help with heart tissue regeneration without being rejected by the child’s body.

The BHF has funded Professor Caputo over £750,000 to get these patches ready for testing in patients so that clinical trials may begin within the next two years, allowing more infants and babies to benefit from life-changing technology. The materials have already been shown to be safe in animal tests.

The team is also in the early phases of creating other stem cell technologies that will one day be able to repair more severe congenital heart problems utilizing 3D bioprinting and gene therapy.

Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said, “If successful, this new stem cell therapy that acts like a healing plaster could revolutionise the results of heart surgery for children and adults living with congenital heart disease. It could offer a solution that means their heart is mended once and forever in a single operation, preventing people from facing a future of repeated surgeries and giving them the gift of a happier and healthier life.”

Source-Medindia

Genetic Mutations Associated With Congenital Heart Disease Identified
Information on genetic mutations that cause congenital heart disease will help to identify the risk of the condition in successive generations