Limb-saving trial shows promise
...Then his [Mr. Fisher's] left foot developed the same telltale black sores. His doctors told him to hold on. Science was going to catch up with him.
In November 2007, Roper Hospital began a randomized trial for a stem-cell therapy to treat critical limb ischemia, a severe obstruction of the arteries. The disease, which chokes extremities of oxygen-rich blood, can be related to smoking, diabetes or hypertension. The treatment takes a patient's own bone marrow stem cells and injects them into the affected limb, where they build new blood vessels.
Normally, stem cells travel from the rich bone core to circulate through the body, going where they are needed to mend broken bones or heal a wound.
Fisher was among the first patients to participate in the trial. A year and five months later, the ulcer and infection on his toes were healed, and circulation in his ankle was 94 percent normal. "That was astounding," said Dr. Jeb Hallett, medical director at the Roper St. Francis Heart and Vascular Center. "The results have been amazing."
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