Montreal resident donates to stem cell research hoping it will help her heart Pipa News – PiPa News

Doctors say MUHC has embarked on stem cell research with serious potential to treat a range of diseases, and some of that work was made possible by someone who hoped it would help her.

Sharon Steinberg proudly says that she works out three times a week. She is in her 80s and has been exercising as prescribed by her doctor after experiencing troublesome symptoms.

I had trouble breathing, she said. She went to MUHC to get it checked out and was told, Oh, you have heart problems.

Steinberg suffers from a fairly common condition called cardiomyopathy, a disease that weakens the heart muscle. Symptoms include constant fatigue and shortness of breath, among others.

There are many drugs to choose from, but they are generic, said Dr. Nadia Giannetti, medical director of the heart failure and transplant program at MUHC. You can use them on anyone and hope they respond.

Hundreds of patients are admitted to her department every year. But despite a range of medications, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment, she says.

But the way doctors treat patients like her may soon change. As part of a new experimental approach, blood is taken from the patient, which can be used to grow stem cells in the laboratory.

Stem cell science has evolved a lot in recent years and no longer requires discarded tissues.

Under a microscope, you can see a cluster of cells that pulsate in a pattern resembling a heartbeat.

These are muscle cells, the cardiologist explains, showing reporters the pulsating cells.

We see what a difference the way her heart muscle cells beat compared to someone who doesnt have cardiomyopathy, she said.

The goal is to say that her problem in her heart is a specific problem, so she will be referred for treatment.

You see the rhythm, Ms. Steinberg says as she watches a team of doctors develop a treatment specifically for her.

Treatments are still experimental and doctors have yet to develop the right treatment for a specific form of Steinbergs cardiomyopathy, but science has a lot of potential, experts say.

We have colleagues in neuroscience who are studying mini-brains, you can do it in the liver, in other organs, Dr. Jannetti said.

Steinberg says she was so grateful for MUHCs efforts that she decided to donate some of her savings to the hospital fund.

When you suffer, whatever the suffering, it gives me, I will speak for myself, a sense of comfort, knowing that others will not suffer the way I do, she said.

MUHC Foundation President and CEO Julie Quenneville says the donation will open doors to more research, as most grants are only awarded after a treatment passes initial trials.

Thanks to her, we can now test this project, and of course we can get research grants and make this research available to more Canadians, she added.

Isnt it amazing? Thats what charity is.

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Montreal resident donates to stem cell research hoping it will help her heart Pipa News - PiPa News