It sounds like science fiction, but doctors are using a patient's own stem cells to repair his damaged heart.
It's an experiment being conducted at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles. A 39-year-old man has received injections of his own heart stem cells after he had a major heart attack May 10. Doctors say he had 99-percent blockage in a major artery of his heart and 21-percent of his heart muscle was scarred.
Researchers developed the specialized stem cells from a small piece of his heart tissue, and then injected them back into his heart to repair and re-grow healthy muscle.
This patient is the first of sixteen people to undergo the experimental procedure. Researches say it will take some time to find out if it was successful.
