A Stem Cell Story for Valentine's Day

I've been on hiatus the past couple weeks. Actually, I was busy with my wedding and I'm now back in the swing of things. I didn't think I'll find a Valentine's Day story that's tangentially related to stem cells...but alas, here's one reported on NPR. This story focuses more on a truly romantic and classic sort of love story, and doesn't focus on the particulars of the stem cell treatment. So, I can only speculate that the procedure may involve injection of Angiogenic Cell Precursors (ACPs). They are isolated and enriched from about 250 ml of the patient's blood in a lab and then reinfused back into the patient. ACPs are believed to stimulate new blood vessel growth in the heart muscle after an attack. The new vessels could potentially increase blood flow and thus hold off terminal heart failure. I also should point out there are no confirmations that this procedure could heal, but it may delay patient death. As I've touched upon in a previous post, those few extra years of life may be worth the risks for some—at least for Jack and Peggy.

References:

http://www.stemcellthailand.com/