Re: CARDIOLOGISTS LAUD BLOOD TREATMENT

From: Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD (andrew_at_heartmdphd.com)
Date: 06/30/04 

Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 08:14:32 -0400

Dr. Jai Maharaj wrote:
>
> Cardiologists laud blood treatment
>
> Unorthodox 'immune modulation therapy' holds
> promise for patients with heart failure
>
> By André Picard
> Public Health Reporter
> The Globe and Mail
> Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - Page A19
>
> It sounds like the brainchild of a mad scientist: Draw
> blood from the arm, heat it up, pump it with oxygen and
> bombard it with ultraviolet light and then re-inject it
> into the patient's ***.
>
> But as strangely unorthodox as it may seem, the process -
> - called immune modulation therapy -- may well be a
> legitimate and effective means of treating heart failure.
>
> Even cardiologists, a traditionally conservative group,
> are excited.
>
> "I remember thinking, when I first heard about this:
> 'This is very weird,' " said Debra Isaac, an associate
> clinical professor of cardiology at the University of
> Calgary.
>
> "But, ultimately, I was impressed by the science behind
> the idea."
>
> The key scientific notion here is that inflammation plays
> a pivotal role in the development and progression of
> heart failure.
>
> The new blood-zapping procedure "targets inflammation by
> kick-starting the immune system's anti-inflammatory
> response," Dr. Isaac said.
>
> Immune modulation therapy, a patented therapy developed
> by Toronto-based Vasogen Inc., involves taking about 10
> cubic centimetres of blood (two teaspoons), then putting
> it into a machine that "stresses" the blood by subjecting
> it to heat, oxidation, and UV light.
>
> Those stresses are designed to induce apoptosis (cell
> death) in white blood cells, those that influence the
> body's immune response.
>
> When this zapped blood is re-injected into the patient,
> the dying cells trigger a powerful immune response.
>
> "What it seems to do is change the ratio," Dr. Isaac
> said. "It increases the anti-inflammatory response and
> decreases the inflammatory response."
>
> Practically, what that means is the inflammatory process,
> which can be toxic to the heart, is slowed. Inflammation
> can damage the arteries and lead to a narrowing of the
> blood vessels, a principal cause of heart disease.
>
> In preliminary research, immune modulation therapy
> resulted in a sharp reduction in symptoms among heart
> failure patients. This leads researchers to believe the
> approach could slow the progression of heart failure, or
> even reverse some of the damage.
>
> But a large-scale study is only beginning, so results
> will not be available for a few years.
>
> Joan Oulette, a retired waitress who lives in Airdrie,
> Alta., has signed up, hoping to do her part to find new
> treatments for heart failure.
>
> A lifelong smoker, she was diagnosed with heart failure
> in 1999. She underwent her first immune modulation
> therapy treatment earlier this week and, while she is a
> bit skeptical, she hopes the treatment will improve her
> health.

Imho, smoking cessation would improve her health more.

 
Servant to the humblest person in the universe,

Andrew 

--
Dr. Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Board-Certified Cardiologist
http://www.heartmdphd.com/
**
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