Treating Heart Disease in Phyathai Hospital

Stem cell treatment for coronary artery disease (CAD) is usually administered either by intra-coronary injection or by surgical intra-myocardial injection. At Phyathai Hospital, the intra-coronary injection method is used. It is less painful; there is no surgery involved.

The procedure is carried out by inserting a tube into the patient’s wrist or ankle for direct stem cell injection into the heart artery. This method is appropriate for patients who have already been treated with a balloon or wire implantation one more times, or for patients who have been operated on, without seeing the expected outcome. In other words, after conventional treatments the chest still feels painful from the lack of blood or the heart is still large.

Patients receiving stem cell treatment for heart disease have their blood drawn from the brachial artery a week in advance. The blood is sent to the laboratory for stem cell separation and growth. In the meantime, the patient flies to Bangkok. The stem cells are injected back into the patient through the heart artery. There they will stimulate the construction of new artery and heart muscle, the revitalization of the heart muscle and construction of the small arteries takes four to six months after the injection.

Since the adult Stem cells have been taken from the patient, there is no chance of the body rejecting them. The risks of the procedure are therefore the same risks normally associated with balloon or wire implants, such as a loss of blood supplied to the heart, heart artery clog, or paralysis, which rarely occurs.