Grow Your Own Heart Bypass 

Heart Disease strikes when the blood vessels feeding the heart become blocked, starving the heart of oxygen.  Now, a new drug is being tested to grow your own bypass, giving the heart a new blood supply without a snip or a stitch. 

Every step 71 year-old Bill Abler takes is painful and potentially deadly. Since 1989 he's suffered 3 heart attacks, and has survived two excruciating heart bypass surgeries. 

Bill Abler/Candidate for New Drug - "There's tremendous depression after you know, they slice your chest, your leg is cut and you just feel, I just felt terrible." 

A new study underway at Henry Ford Hospital may cut down on the need for painful bypass and angioplasty surgery. They're testing a new drug. It's a genetically engineered bacteria that's already produced naturally in the body, but some people don't produce enough of it. It's designed to grow new blood vessels in someone's heart. 

Dr. Phillip Kraft/Henry Ford Hospital - "This was tested on animals, it showed there was growth of blood vessels and so the big question is can you extrapolate this on people." 

Dr. Kraft says early studies show people who were injected with the drug do show signs of blood growth in their hearts and legs with blockages. 

Dr. Phillip Kraft/Henry Ford Hospital - "So we would put the drug into this catheter and try and stimulate this blood vessel to grow over and catch on to this one." 

Bill is one of five patients going through the preliminary testing to see if he'll qualify for this new procedure, one part is a stress test to determine the blood flow to his heart. 

In addition candidates will be screened for cancer, diabetes, eye problems, and overall health. If all goes well, they'll be given the drug and for patients like bill who no longer have the option of surgery, the stakes are high. 

Bill Abler/Candidate For New Drug - "The next one will probably kill me..." 

But Bill says he's not worried about dying, but about finding a cure -- not for himself but for others. Two of his nine children and his granddaughter suffer from heart problems, and he lost his father to a heart attack. 

Bill Abler/Candidate For New Drug - "I'm 71 I've raised nine kids, I'm tired, but if it will help somebody else that's great." 

Henry Ford Hospital is one of twenty sites taking part in this study. Doctors say once the drug is given, results appear pretty quickly. So they should know within six months whether this new therapy is working. 

Home | Upcoming Stories | Previous Stories |Survey | About Healthy Living | E-Mail