At a press conference titled “Introduction of New Methods in Cardiovascular Disease Treatment” held in Ho Chi Minh City on May 5, Dr. Eugene Sim, a cardiologist from Parkway Health Group – Singapore, announced that for patients with end-stage heart failure, who have no hope of recovery, Singapore is developing treatment methods involving the transplantation of stem cells and the use of mechanical heart support devices.
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Parkway – Singapore |
All stem cells used for transplantation in heart failure patients are derived from muscle or bone marrow. According to Dr. Sim, globally, between 200 to 300 heart failure patients have received stem cell transplants from muscle, while 700 to 800 cases have been treated with bone marrow stem cells.
In Singapore alone, since 2005, doctors have applied this method in 8 cases of end-stage heart failure. Most patients undergoing stem cell transplantation are those suffering from myocardial infarction and myocardial ischemia.
Currently, Singaporean doctors are researching methods to further refine stem cells for even better treatment outcomes.
The cost of treating end-stage heart failure through stem cell transplantation ranges from 20,000 to 30,000 USD.
During the press conference, Dr. Lim Tai Tian, a cardiologist at Parkway Health Group, emphasized that the more risk factors a person has, the exponentially higher the likelihood of developing cardiovascular diseases. This means that a person with one risk factor has a fourfold increased chance of developing the disease compared to a normal individual, while someone with two risk factors sees that risk increase to eight times.
Risk factors include a family history of cardiovascular disease, particularly if it occurred at a young age, smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, abdominal obesity, men over 40, and women in the perimenopausal phase or over 50 years old.
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