Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)

Congestive Heart Failure or CHF basically refers to “pump failure”. That is, compromised heart function that results in poor or inadequate blood flow to the body’s various organs and tissues. Both conventional and alternative treatments are aimed at reducing the burden on the heart as well as strengthening its function and thus output.  What about adult or nonembryonic stem cells for Congestive Heart Failure? Stem cell expert Dr. David Steenblock states that, “In my 40 years of practicing medicine I have never seen such quick and amazing results as using stem cells for treatment of congestive heart failure!” Besides his personal experiences, there are a great deal of other scientific and medical evidence that stem cells can ameliorate Congestive Heart Failure and by so doing decrease the shortness of breath, general weakness and swollen legs that are characteristic (primary) symptoms. One example comes from the STAR-heart study. In this study 191 patients with chronic heart failure with an ejection fraction of 35% or less had stem cells from their own bone marrow injected into a major artery feeding their hearts. There was a control group of Congestive Heart Failure patients who did not receive the stem cells. Regular medical evaluations carried out during the ensuing 5 years showed clear improvements in the treated group including left ventricular ejection fraction (which increased from 29% to 36%), cardiac index, oxygen uptake, contractility, and exercise tolerance.

Other completed studies as well as those in-progress involving interventional cardiologists involve harvesting a patient’s bone marrow cells from their hip, growing them in culture and then threading a catheter up the femoral artery into a coronary artery and then injecting them. Some doctors are putting them into the cardiac veins while others have fancy catheters that have needles built in so the doctors can inject the stem cells directly into the damaged parts of the heart. All of these are more costly, invasive and risky compared to the methods Dr. Steenblock routinely uses. He has, in fact, gone to various medical conferences where interventional cardiologists doing these risky, costly procedures were giving presentations extolling their positive results and then singled them out and asked whether they had tried comparing what they did to what he does, i.e., removes bone marrow from the patient and gives it immediately back to them by simple intravenous injection through a blood filter. Not one of these hotshot specialists had ever even considered doing such a comparison!

Bone Marrow Stem Cells and Congestive Heart Failure

In Dr. David Steenblock’s experience the use of the patient’s own bone marrow is the safest, simplest, and cheapest method to treat Congestive Heart Failure with stem cells and in his opinion gets consistently good or better results than those more expensive and risky methods of treatment described above.

One example is a 56 year old overweight man who was scheduled for a heart transplant at the VA hospital due to his severe Congestive Heart Failure. His cardiac output was 24% and he was in serious trouble not even being able to walk up one flight of stairs. Within 3 weeks of a simple bone marrow procedure by Dr. Steenblock his cardiac output had jumped to 48% and he was able to walk up 10 flights of stairs!

Another is a 76 year old woman who had a massive heart attack 6 months prior to seeing Dr. Steenblock and came to him with massively swollen legs, fluid in her lungs with shortness-of-breath and terrible weakness. One week after getting her own stem cells, her ankles looked like they were when she was 18 and she had regained her strength and had no more shortness-of-breath!
Dr. Steenblock has many more examples in his files though the important thing is that this is a method is safe and simple and just may be the answer Congestive Heart Failure patients have been looking for.

Comprehensive Approach to Congestive Heart Failure

Dr. David Steenblock’s comprehensive stem cell-based approach to Congestive Heart Failure is geared to: (1) prepare a patient’s body to respond vigorously to injected stem cells; (2) identify and deal with dietary, lifestyle and other factors that contribute to the Congestive Heart Failure disease process and progression; and (3) remove impediments that tend to compromise patient responses to stem cells as well as stem cell activity in the body. Among the tools and methods which Dr. Steenblock utilizes:

1. Placing Congestive Heart Failure patients on a diet and supplements specific to their condition.
2. Use of stem cell mobilizers such as all-natural Stemgevity™ and FDA approved stem cell mobilization drugs such as Neupogen® (Filgrastim).
3. Creation of individualized regimens that include use of leading edge FDA approved devices that support stem cell mobilization such as Intermittent Hypoxia Therapy, Periodic Acceleration Therapy, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, External counterpulsation and more. You can read more about these on www.strokedoctor.com, and also in the November-December 2010 issue of Dr. Steenblock’s Clinic newsletter which you can readily access by going to http://stemcell.md/newsletters/nov2010.pdf (Go to page 2, the article titled “How Dr. Steenblock Can Help You Turn the Tables on Aging & Chronic Disease”)