New Generation of Healing: Risking it All on Stem Cells

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Lorraine Rivera - View Bio

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Its been called the next big frontier in medicine, but stem cell treatment is still in its infancy. Some patients say they don't have time to wait for the studies, so they're ready to risk it all on a controversial transplant.

One Florida cardiologist claims to do what no one else can. "We're able to increase heart function in patients who suffered major heart attacks," said Zannos Grekos, M.D., director of Regenocyte Therapeutic's cardiac and vascular service.

Dr. Grekos is the man behind a stem cell therapy that has patients and their cells flying around the world. First, the patient's blood is sent to an Israeli lab. There, Dr. Grekos says scientists extract, grow and activate stem cells that target specific organs. "We grow them in a special culture medium that includes growth factors that tell the stem cell what to become," Dr. Grekos explained.

For $64,000, the patients meet up with their stem cells in the Dominican Republic or Bahamas and have a transplant that's not approved in the United States.

"That tends to be the case with the U.S. and the FDA: Many things lag behind," Dr. Grekos said.

"This is not even off-label, and unfortunately it's not even experimental," said Cam Patterson, M.D., director of cardiology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. "These patients are being charged an enormous amount of money for a therapy that's unproven."

Howard Lindeman says the proof is in how he feels. Lindeman has coronary artery disease."I can't say 5 more years, 10 more years," he said. "What I know is, it's given me a life."

Before treatment, Lindeman said he had "99.9% blockage everywhere." The recording engineer who toured the world with the rich and famous was out of options. Six months after surgery, tests from Dr. Grekos show his heart's pumping capacity went from 39 to 62 percent.

"Keep in mind that the placebo effect is very powerful," Dr. Patterson said. "It can fool patients. It can fool other physicians, and it certainly doesn't surprise me at all that some people feel they've gotten better after they've invested an enormous amount of money, time and effort."

The ISSSCR warns patients to be on the look-out for these warning signs -- stem cells that treat multiple conditions, high cost and no clear studies or documents showing results.

A treatment ahead of it's time, or too good to be true? While doctors debate, some patients take their health into their own hands.

Dr. Grekos says the stem cell transplant is only done as a last resort after traditional bypass surgery or organ transplant are ruled out. The ISSCR issued a set of guidelines for patients to follow if they're undergoing experimental stem cell treatment.