The Sunday Courier featured a front page story about work going on at the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute here in Louisville.

It's a story we first brought you on "Jean West's Medical Daily" in September of 2008, and again as the lead feature story on " Jean West's Medical" Digest in January of 2009. It's extraordinary work in which doctors are building blood vessels using the patients' own fat cells. Here is an excerpt from one of our reports:

BUILDING BLOOD VESSELS – U OF L

IF YOU HAVE DIABETES OR OTHER DIEASES THAT CAUSE YOU TO HAVE POOR BLOOD FLOW, COME CLOSER. DOCTORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE ARE BUILDING YOUR OWN BLOOD VESSELS TO HELP YOU FUNCTION BETTER AND LIVE LONGER.

(BREAK)

(JEAN ON CAM)
IT’S RIGHT OUT OF STARS WARS. TECHNOLOGY THAT SCANS AND MAPS YOUR OWN FAT CELLS TO MAKE BLOOD VESSELS AND TISSUE THAT MATCHES YOUR BODY AND START HEALING RIGHT AWAY. GRAB A PEN, YOU’RE GOING TO WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS .

(CART)
(NATSOT-8:01- {LAB TECHNICIAN} – “what I’m making is ….or ddms”)
(effect)
(natsot- 1:46- “what we basically do in our group is we build new blood vessels”
(natsot -12;18 – it takes about three of these to cover the surface of the heart”
(natsot – 8:04_ {lab technician} – it’s a chemical inert elastimer …out: including cell cultures)
(CART)
YES, IT SOUNDS LIKE STARWARS TECHNO SCIENCE. BUT IF YOU HAVE DIABETES, OR HEART DISEASE, THE WORK GOING ON IN THIS LAB AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE COULD ONE DAY SAVE OR PROLONG YOUR LIFE.
(SOT – 2:20 – DR. STUART WILLIAMS(?)- those patients who have poor blood flow to their legs to build a small blood vessel utilizing these fat derived cells)
[CART]
FAT FROM YOUR OWN BODY, IS TAKEN, ISOLATED AND SCANNED TO BUILD YOUR OWN BLOOD VESSELS.
(SOT – DR.WILLIAMS-1:52-those blood vessels can be large…out: particular graft.)
(CART)
THE SCIENTISTS ARE STARTING SMALL BY MAKING IMPROVEMENTS ON THIS REPLACEMENT SKIN THAT IS ALREADY AVAILABLE. USING YOUR FAT CELLS TO ADD BLOOD VESSELS TO THIS TISSUE.
(SOT DR jay hoying – 7:10 we’re not trying to assemble an entire organ, we’re trying to just do a patch.)
(BREAK)
(CART)
WILLIAMS AND HOYA ARE NOW PLANNING HUMAN STUDIES THAT WILL BEGIN TESTING HUMAN FAT CELLS IN A CLINICAL SETTING TO BUILD TISSUE. THEY WILL BEGIN ENROLLING PATIENTS IN THE STUDY TO SEE HOW WELL IT WORKS.
(BREAK)
(JEAN ON CAM)
THE CARDIOVASCULAR INNOVATION INSTITUTE IS A PARTNERSHIP BEWTEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE AND JEWISH HOSPITALTO IMPROVETHE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR HEART PATIENTS.
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