A new study shows heart failure treatment works better in women.

The treatment is called cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator. The defibrillator is an implantable device that helps coordinate the action of the left and right heart ventricles by delivering a small electric shock to the heart. When the device senses abnormal heart rhythms, it shocks the heart back to a normal beat.

In this study, women treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy had a 70% reduction in heart failure while men only had a 35% reduction.

Heart failure occurs when the heart cannot pump enough blood throughout the body. A common cause of this in women is dyssynchrony, where the heart ventricles do not contract simultaneously. The device in this study is the perfect solution to this problem. This and the fact women generally have smaller hearts than men are the main reasons cardiac resynchronization therapy works better in women.

However, to accurately make this conclusion, a new study must examine men and women with the exact same heart disease and no other outlying conditions to influence the outcomes. So for now, all there is strong evidence that women react more positively to heart failure treatment than men.

Cardiac stem cells have the potential to create new heart muscle and vessel tissue to treat heart failure. Even the stem cells from sick and elderly patients show this possibility.

21 patients had tissue removed from the muscular walls of their hearts. Scientists used this tissue to isolate and multiply the cardiac stem cells (CSC). The majority of the patients had ischemic cardiomyopathy, 11 had diabetes, and average age of patients was 65. However, no matter the age, heart disease, or any other factors, researchers were still able to extract functional cardiac stem cells.

Researchers were able to extract 20% more CSCs from the heart of women then men, but age or diabetes did not affect the number of stem cells obtained. Women tend to live longer than men, thus their hearts are usually more resilient than men’s.

These cardiac stem cells are already programmed to form cardiac muscle, so these stem cells have an advantage over others stem cells to treat the heart. The best part of this discovery is the fact everyone has CSC in reserve despite age, ethnicity, diet, and other factors. However, more research is needed to thoroughly back up these claims.

A study has found injecting people with chronic heart failure with their own bone-marrow stem cells improves their heart function and prolongs their lifespan. Within three months, the effects of stem cell treatment were evident. The patients were receiving these benefits and continued for the next 5 years.

This is not the first time stem cell research has been shown to help treat heart failure and other heart-related illnesses. However, this study is one of the biggest to date for heart disease and the first to show how treatment can cut the risk of death from chronic heart failure.

One of the most astonishing aspects of stem cell treatment was the lack of risk and it could be used on top of other treatments for chronic heart failure,

For the study, bone marrow stem cells were taken from the top of the patient’s pelvic bone and processed to the lab to allow them to be injected into scarred heart muscle. During the five-year period, seven out of 191 patients died while on the stem cell treatment compared to the 32 out of 200 patients who did not have the treatment. The difference is significant.

Despite positive results, stem cell treatment is far away from mainstream use. The study requires more precise testing because patients knew they were receiving the treatment. If the study wants to be legitimate, the sampling has to be completely randomized to ensure accuracy.