Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) occurs when the arteries of the heart are unable to
deliver enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart. IHD is caused by the build-up of plaque,
this causes coronary arteries to narrow, limiting the blood flow to the heart. In some
cases, the artery may become completely occluded, resulting in a complete arrest of
blood supply to that area, also known as Myocardial infarction (heart attack).
Plaque formation occurs in coronary arteries; plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol,
calcium and a few other substances found in blood. This results in narrowing of the
arteries, thereby causing reduced perfusion of oxygen to the heart muscle.
Plaque may rupture into the coronary artery, which may be responsible for the narrowing
of the coronary artery.
Myocardial ischaemic occurs when blood flow to heart is reduced, results in reduced
oxygen supply to heart muscle. Leads to reduced pumping ability of the heart muscles.
- Narrowing of the vessel, may even cause stasis of the blood,which results in a
formation of a blood clot. The clot may occlude a coronary artery and cause a heart
attack.
When a myocardial infarction occurs, it essentially means the part of the heart that is
supplied by occluded artery, loses its blood supply. This results in the cardiac muscle
to go into a stunned or hibernating phase, if not treated quickly leads to irreversible
atrophy of tissue.
The injured myocardium often disappears once it dies, and is then replaced by scar
tissue. As the heart is a synchronous organ, which transmists impulses throughout it,
this area is incapable of doing so. Leading to cause abnormal heart rhythms and systolic
dysfunction (loss of contraction).
Eventually, the heart undergoes myocardial remodelling, finally at the end stages heart
failure.
Stem cell therapy’s goal in IHD is to improve the cardiac function of patients with
advanced ischaemic heart failure. Function of stem cell therapy is to promote growth of
new blood vessels, thereby resulting in preservation or even regeneration of myocardial
tissue. This revascularization helps in revival of stunned or hibernating myocardium,
thereby promoting contractile nature of the cardiac muscle.
Stem cell treatments at The Swiss Clinic are minimally invasive, most often a outpatient
procedure so patient may go home the same day. Recovery times vary patient to patient,
we strive to keep our patients downtime to the minimum. What happens at our clinic on
the day of your procedure:
- Physician makes a tiny puncture through your skin either in abdomen or thighs, to
harvest a small amount of fat.
- The fat is then processed in a Lipogems device using sterile saline solution. During
this gentle process of micro-fragmentation, fat is washed, rinsed and resized into
smaller clusters all while maintaining its natural healing phenomenon. This
closed-loop system removes blood, fatty oils and inflammatory cells, leaving behind
the concentrated fat (pericytes) which is therapeutic.
- Physician injects the resultant cells into the treatment site, under ultrasound or
2D-fluoroscopic guidance. This ensures the stem cells properly reach where they are
required.
- Over the course of next 6-8 weeks, healing process continues as nature had intended
for us, all while having excellent pain relief and major reduction in symptoms
related to myocardial infarction.
