Cardiologists of the Institute of Surgery and Transplantation n.a. O. Shalimov perfomed a unique operation on human heart with the transplantation of the stem cells.

Artillerist Alexander Sidletsky has a fatal heart defect – cardiomyopathy, he can not breath at night. Doctors have repeatedly raised the boy from the dead, and now he has got a a chance for salvation. Cardiologists of Shalimov Institute during several months carried out experiments on the sick animals, they transplanted stem cells to them and noted a positive trend. And now they undertake an attempt on the human heart.

Although the patient is cheerfully talking and looks almost healthy, he can die at any moment. The patient’s condition, doctors estimate as very critical.

– Are you scared? – the journalist asks Sashko a few minutes before surgery.
– No, not scared, I was scared earlier, – Alexander said to the program “Windows.” It was terrible a few months ago – at night I suddenly felt pain in the chest, and could not breath.

Cardiologists of the Shalimov Institute at night raised Alexander from the dead and in the morning performed tests to estimate what does not allow him to breath. The patient was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, what this disease is a magnetic resonance imaging of the heart of Sashko clearly shows. On display it is very well visible that Alexander’s heart does not contract, and its walls just rock. This disorder is very dangerous, because in cardiomyopathy the blood supplies internal organs very badly.

When doctors told Alexander about his heart disorder, he got very upset. He says he was sure that his heart was the only organ that remained intact after the war. Man was hit by mortar firing, due to resulting injury his kidney was removed, his liver was sewn, a fragment was removed from his lung.

Arthur Gabriela, head of the department of transplantology and heart surgery of the Institute of Surgery and Transplantology n.a. O Shalimov: “As a result of all these interventions, and most likely stress Alexandr developed this heart disorder, his heart functions only for 11%. This is critical, because this is the indication to heart transplant.”
The only rescue for Alexander is heart transplantation, but in Ukraine it is almost impossible, because the most important thing is lacking – the register of donors for transplantation. So doctors of Shalimov Institute find an alternative – they try to make his own bad heart work better with stem cells.

As the doctor said, stem cells get embedded in the diseased organ, and improve its function.

Sashko was taken to the operating room, where a box with stem cells – hope for his life was already waiting for him. From the liquid nitrogen only one syringe is taken out and poured into the system for intravenous infusion. Sasha, lying on a bed, has not even realized that he got already operated, as he imagined this procedure as a big surgery with narcosis.
Director of the Institute of Surgery and Transplantation n.a. O Shalimov, Prof. Alexander Usenko, MD, PhD said that very soon our soldier will be really better. He will live, though it does not solve the problem. The professor said that Alexander’s heart is the motor, which is working only for 10%, and the stem cells are the kind of oil. Even the best oil will not fully restore the idle motor an it concerns thousands of other patients with cardiomyopathy, who need a heart transplant.

As the director of the Institute of Surgery and Transplantation n.a. O Shalimov said, there is a legislative base worldwide that regulates organ collection in humans. There are 2 laws under revision in Ukrainian Parliament, which, as Professor Usenko hopes, will be approved, and this will improve treatment results and save lots and lots of patients. “Hands, people, technology we have all of this, actually we do not have only perfect legislation” – the expert said.

Just after the operation Sashko is not feeling better, because, according to doctors, it takes at least 3 months. In a few days the patient will be discharged from the hospital.
National Institute of Surgery and Transplantation n.a. O Shalimov of NAMS of Ukraine is a unique medical and research institution in the field of organ and cell transplantation. National Institute of Surgery and Transplantation n.a. Shalimov of NAMS of Ukraine is also an academic member of the Association of cryobanks of umbilical cord blood and other human tissues and cells.

Clinical trials, evaluating the efficacy of stem cells in the treatment of cardiomyopathies are conducted courtesy the joint efforts of the National Institute of Surgery and Transplantation n.a. O Shalimov and Institute of Cell Therapy, co-founder and full member of the Association of cryobanks. In this project the Institute of Cell Therapy acts as a manufacturer of transplants – stem cell drugs. Stem cell based drugs to restore heart in patients with cardiomyopathies are produced in the biotechnology laboratory of the Institute of Cell Therapy, which includes a full cycle of processing of biological material: laboratory of cell culturing, testing (including PCR diagnostics) and the Ukraine’s largest cryobank which stores more than 20,000 samples of stem cells. Cryobank of the Institute of Cell Therapy is the only biobank in Ukraine, that is accredited by ISO 9001: 2008.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8_1q_rcXuQ