Agência Brasil
Brasília – Experimental medical procedures in patients with serious heart problems have begun at three Brazilian hospitals: the National Heart Institute of Laranjeiras in Rio de Janeiro (INCL), the Heart Institute (Incor), in São Paulo, both in southeastern Brazil, and the Hospital Santa Isabel, in Salvador, in the northeast of the country. The effort is sponsored by the Ministry of Health and will eventually involve 33 hospitals in nine states and the Distrito Federal, where Brazilian capital Brasília is located.
Altogether 1,200 volunteer patients will undergo the experimental procedures in a nationwide medical trial that will seek to ascertain the effectiveness of stem cell treatment. The trial is presently the biggest of its kind in the world. Specific targets of the treatment are heart attack victims and people with cardiopathies, such as chronic coronary diseases, as well as Chagas disease.
This week the ministers of Health, Humberto Costa, and Science and Technology, Eduardo Campos, will visit patients undergoing stem cell treatment at the INCL. They will also sign financial contracts for further research in healthcare.
