Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute in the News

Chicago Tribune
February 19, 2008

Artery Procedure Raises New Hopes

A new procedure launched at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in January offers hope to patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI), or severely blocked leg arteries.

Doctors transplanted a purified form of the patients' own stem cells into their leg muscles to grow new, small blood vessels and restore circulation in their legs. Two patients underwent the procedure. They are the first subjects in a 20-site national trial.

Without successful treatment, CLI patients have diminished blood flow, which causes wounds that don't heal and gangrene, which can lead to loss of toes, feet or legs. It results in more than 100,000 amputations a year.

"This is a dreadful disease, and the profession has failed to offer much in the way of relief for these patients," said Dr. Douglas Losordo, director of Northwestern University's Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute and principal national investigator for the trial. "Amputation rates are the same now as they were 30 years ago. We hope these trials will lead to treatment."  (Read More)

January 21, 2008.  First U.S. Trial Transplants CD34+ Stem Cells to Investigate Prevention of Leg Amputations

CHICAGO — A Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine researcher has launched the first U.S. trial in which a purified form of subjects' own adult stem cells was transplanted into their leg muscles with severely blocked arteries to try to grow new small blood vessels and restore circulation in their legs.

The first two subjects in the 20-site national trial recently underwent the stem cell transplant process at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Severely blocked arteries in the leg and sharply diminished blood flow can result in wounds that don't heal, the breakdown of tissue and gangrene. This painful condition is called critical limb ischemia (CLI) and results in the amputation of more than 100,000 limbs every year in the United States. It's a serious, emerging health problem that affects 1.4 million people. An estimated 15 percent of the population will have this disease by the time they reach age 70.

The Northwestern-led phase I/IIa study -- which will include 75 people with CLI around the country -- targets patients who have exhausted all other medical options including angioplasty, stents and bypass surgery to repair blocked circulation in their legs.

"They're at the end of the therapeutic road and they're ultimately facing potential amputation," said Douglas Losordo, M.D., the Eileen M. Foell Professor of Heart Research and principal national investigator for the study. "This is hopefully a way to help them avoid that."  (Read more)

Chicago Sun-Times
July 11, 2007

Doc is his own guinea pig

Dr. Douglas Losordo is one of many researchers studying whether stem cells can treat heart disease. But in an unusual twist, the NORTHWESTERN University researcher tried part of an experimental treatment on himself.

"I wanted to see what it would be like for patients before I subjected them to the procedure," he said. There's a long history of self-experimentation in medicine. But these days, hospital committees that oversee clinical trials generally frown on the practice...

The study by Losordo and colleagues, published in the journal Circulation, included 24 patients who suffered severe angina chest pain but weren't candidates for surgery. For five days, participants took a drug that boosted their body's production of all-purpose stem cells. They then were connected to a machine, similar to dialysis, that removed stem cells from their blood.

Losordo was the first to volunteer for this part of the study. He did not have heart disease himself, and figured if the procedure was difficult on him, he would be reluctant to try it on heart patients. He experienced no side effects. But he said his wife at the time "didn't think it was the greatest idea," and some colleagues "expressed a little bit of reservation."

In the second part of the study, surgeons used catheters to inject stem cells into patients' hearts. The hope was that stem cells would jump-start the formation of tiny blood vessels, thereby reviving dormant heart muscle. Losordo did not volunteer for this part of the study, because he doubted the hospital committee would allow it...

June 26, 2007.  First Study Transplanting Angina Patients' Purified Stem Cells Shows Safety

CHICAGO — The first U.S. study to transplant a potent form of purified adult stem cells into the heart muscle of patients with severe angina provided evidence that the procedure is safe and produced a reduction in angina pain as well as improved functioning in patients' daily lives, reports the lead researcher at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.  (Read More)