"Heart Attack Repair: Cardiac Stem Cells Show Promise in Trials" by Eryn Brown

Scientists are making more progress in the area of stem cell research; this time, they have found a way to use a patient’s own stem cells to help repair heart attack damages.  Doctors are now able to harvest stem cells during a patient’s own bypass surgery using a minimally invasive technique to infuse into the patient’s in order to reverse damages that occurred during cardiac arrest.  Out of the seventeen subjects that the doctors used to experiment this procedure, fourteen of them saw improved cardiac function within the next few months, and their heart scars had shrunk considerably. 

This new finding by doctors came as very good news to me.  In the US alone, approximately six million people have heart failure.  My own grandfather died a couple of months ago from a heart attack.  This condition is very common and very severe, and it is encouraging to hear that doctors are making progress in this field so they can help those who are suffering from heart failure. 

"Doctors Separate Conjoined Twins" by Sajid Farooq

Last week, two young conjoined twin girls in San Jose were separated for the first time.  Dr. Gary Hartman performed this operation.  It was a very tricky surgery, because the two girls were joined at both the chest and abdomen.  These two girls were born with their livers, diaphragms, breast bones, chest and abdominal walls fused together.  They had separate hearts, kidneys, brains, stomachs, and intestines.  Dr. Hartman said the trickiest part of the operation was separating the liver, because it was tightly fused and they had to use tissue expanders to fill the holes.  Dr. Hartman performed this risky operation very skillfully, which is no easy feat considering that these operations are only performed in the US about 6 times a year.  These two young girls are very lucky to be alive and healthy; most conjoined twins die in the womb.  However, their surgery went well and they are now both adjusting to living their lives as two separate children. 

This article was very encouraging to me.  I have heard many stories about the failed separating conjoined twins.  I have also heard about twins who could not be separated, due to a situation where they are joined at a place that could not be separated, such as the brain.  It is uplifting to hear that the doctors performing these surgeries are improving, and that the patients are able to live a normal life after the operation.