U of L researcher gets $3.4 million to replicate studies of stem cells for heart treatment

Dr. Roberto Bolli of the University of Louisville has received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test the validity of several recent studies by replicating them. The studies examine whether certain types of stem cells are safe and effective in treating heart failure, heart attacks and other cardiovascular disorders.

"Replicating studies in several locations with a large number of patients is necessary for researchers to ultimately determine which ones can be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration for approval," Jill Scoggins reports in a U of L press release.

Bolli has received more than $100 million in grants for basic research for NIH. This is the first grant he has been awarded for clinical research. (Read more)

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UK doctors first to perform triple ablation, a special form of cardiac catheterization

Ollie Whitaker of Whitesburg is the first known patient to have undergone triple ablation surgery, in which a catheter is inserted through a patient's blood vessels to remove a faulty electrical pathway and tissue from the patient's heart. The procedure was performed at the University of Kentucky's Gill Heart Institute.  (UK photo of Whitaker, Dr. Sammy Claude Elayi and Dr. Gustavo Morales)

"Typically, the catheter is placed into the patient's femoral artery, internal jugular or subclavian vein. The catheter is guided toward the heart, and high-frequency electrical impulses are used to induce the arrhythmia and then destroy (or ablate) the abnormal tissue causing it," reports Jodi Whitaker for UK Public Relations.

"Performing two ablations during one procedure is commonly done, but three with this complexity is basically unheard of," said Dr. Sammy Claude Elayi, a UK cardiologist. "But in this patient's case, despite the risk, I believed that we could perform three ablations."

"I'm so very pleased," said Whitaker, who had a massive heart attack 30 years ago at age 42 and had been suffering severe after-effects ever since. "I can work in my flower bed outside and do more around the house." (Read more)

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Jewish Hospital of Louisville becomes national leader in removing heart pumps from patients with heart failure

Eleven patients with advanced heart failure were able to have their heart pumps removed thanks to a combination of medication administered at Louisville's Jewish Hospital.

Texas Heart Institute is the only other institution that has removed heart pumps, also known as left ventricular assist devices. Twenty of the devices have been removed in 10 years there. At Jewish, all 11 have been taken away in the past 18 months, Laura Ungar reports for The Courier-Journal.

The program at Jewish uses a cocktail of medicines, including ACE inhibitors, beta blockers and others, in combination with the heart pump. The medication helps strengthen the heart, allowing the pump to be eventually removed. "These patients have a very good quality of life, much better, in fact, than if they continued with the LVAD alone or received a heart transplant," said Dr. Emma Birks, director of the Jewish Hospital Heart Failure, Transplant and Mechanical Support Program.

The treatment could mean "some patients with advanced heart failure may be able to forgo a heart transplant, while others can delay having one," Ungar reports. "That could mean a longer life for younger heart failure patients with LVADs; life expectancy after a transplant averages 10 years."

Nationwide, about 5 million Americans have heart failure, which translates to 300,000 deaths a year, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute figures show. (Read more)

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