Australian scientists have had no shortage of patients willing to undergo experimental stem cell treatment for heart disease.
Although the procedure is still unproven, volunteers lining up to trial stem cell therapy have reached the end of the road in terms of conventional medicine.
Sydney man Bill Henry had 80 million stem cells injected into his ailing heart a month ago via a catheter through his groin.
The 52-year-old is one of two patients to have the world-first procedure and is already talking about the possibility of returning to full-time employment.
After several heart attacks and quadruple bypass surgery, the former NSW rail authority worker was diagnosed with heart failure.
At the time, he was told he was too old for a heart transplant and except for medication to improve his blood pressure, cholesterol levels and heart performance, there was nothing more doctors could do.
His cardiologist Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Nepean Hospital at Penrith, in Sydney’s west, was frank about Mr Henry’s prospects.
He gave the father of three daughters a 60/40 chance of living another five years.
But after the stem cell procedure on February 6, Mr Henry is hopeful of one day walking his two unmarried daughters down the aisle and seeing his grandchildren grow up.
Before the stem cell treatment, Mr Henry had trouble walking 100m, having to sit down for 10 minutes to get his breath back before continuing on.
He has been amazed with his progress since the procedure, performed under a local anaesthetic.
"I’m starting to feel terrific," he said in an interview.
"Every couple of days I just get that little bit better. I can walk further.
"It’s early days yet but from what I’ve observed so far, it’s going to be bloody good.
"I’m grateful for having the opportunity to participate and so is my family."
Mr Henry is feeling so much better he is even talking about taking his 10-year-old grandson Roy to Sydney’s Easter Show and getting back to work.
"I still do a bit of part-time work taking disabled children to school but I’m hoping to get back into permanent employment probably three, six months down the track," he said.
"The problem before was I’d have good days maybe for a week or so and then I’d have four or five really bad days where I’d have to be off sick.
"If I can get back to the stage where I don’t need any time off sick, I’ve got more chance of getting a job and getting a bit more satisfaction out of life."
Cardiologist Suku Thambar, of the Hunter Medical Research Institute in Newcastle where the procedure was performed, said the researchers had no shortage of patients for their trials.
"We are inundated with patients," he said.
"We’ve had a huge response."
The trial involving Mr Henry is the first in the world using rare adult stem cells known as mesenchymal precursor cells harvested from the patient’s bone marrow, in this case his hip.
They were then multiplied in a Melbourne laboratory and six weeks later, injected back into his heart.
"These cells have the ability to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels by secreting a variety of growth factors," Dr Thambar said.
"They also have the potential to salvage existing heart muscle which may be threatened with death due to lack of blood supply."
The scientists were able to isolate the cells using an antibody and grow them in the laboratory using a technique developed by Australian Stock Exchange-listed company, Mesoblast.
Unlike other stem cell trials internationally which have used a different type of cells, Dr Thambar said the two Australian patients treated so far had shown no evidence of side effects.
Dr Thambar said patients in other trials had developed abnormal heart beats and drugs used to stimulate the bone marrow had also caused problems.
He said the Australian treatment did not require such drugs.
The first big test for the initial Australian trial, though, will come in May when Mr Henry undergoes a series of tests, including an MRI scan, to see whether there has been any improvement in blood supply to his heart.
