The Catholic News

LOS ANGELES — In a first-ever clinical trial, a small sample of a patient’s own heart tissue is used to grow specialized heart stem cells. The stem cells are then injected back into the patient’s heart in an effort to repair and re-grow healthy muscle in a heart that has been injured by heart attack.

The trial could start a new era of treating heart disease, which is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the United States. If cardiac regeneration is possible, then people who suffer heart attacks might be able to achieve greater post-heart-attack productivity and health and, for the most extreme cases, not require heart transplants.

The moral implications of the trial are also profound; no embryo is involved at any stage of the process.

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