heart attack

Vall d'Hebron professional says pharma "are less interested" in women being in clinical trials

Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic has installed the ‘Micra’ 24mm pacemaker - equivalent to the size of a one euro coin -  in 4 patients as part of a clinical trial involving 10 medical centres and 60 patients troughout the world. This innovative wireless system is minimally invasive since it does not require any surgical procedure but is implanted in the heart through the femoral vein using a catheter. Such a procedure can be performed within 30 minutes and also reduces the patients’ risks of future infections. According to the Medical Director of the Hospital, Josep Brugada, if the clinical study is successful, it will involve a “paradigm shift”. Experts estimate it could reach hospitals within the next two or three years.

According to experiments tested on mice, Catalan scientists have affirmed that the stem cells located in the human umbilical chord, which are multipotential and therefore can become different types of cells, can be used to regenerate the tissue affected by a heart attack or a stroke. Until now the only way to recover the damaged tissue was through pharmacological treatment or a heart transplant.