Japanese scientists grow sheet of heart muscle cells for world’s first general-patient ReHeart-ing
Patient had a new piece of her own heart attached to her old one. We often report on scientific and medical breakthroughs that have the potential to change the world, but more often than not, they seem to just disappear. You may even remember back in 2006, when Shinya Yamanaka announced that he had converted […]
On September 29th, the world witnessed the first commercialized iPS treatment, ReHeart, carried out at Osaka Police Hospital. Developed by Professor Emeritus Yoshiki Sawa and his biotech startup Cuorips, ReHeart involves creating a sheet of heart muscle cells from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and applying it to a patient suffering from severe heart disease.
A 50-year-old woman with severe heart failure following a heart attack was the first general patient to undergo the surgery, which took about 50 minutes and had no reported complications.
The treatment, approved by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare with a follow-up verification requirement over the next seven years, has already been tested on eight individuals. Sawa acknowledged the lengthy 20-year wait for practical application, emphasizing the significant role of medical professionals, private companies, and the government in achieving this milestone.
While the cost of ReHeart treatment is estimated at 15 million yen (US$96,000), with Japan's national healthcare system requiring patients to pay only about 30 percent of the total cost, based on their age and income, the procedure is still a luxury few can afford. The iPS cells have the potential to restore hair growth, but the cost would be astronomical, and hair-growth therapy is not covered by insurance due to its non-life-threatening nature.
Written by urgent.news from SoraNews24's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
