Transluminal application of adult stem cells for body organ tissue repair

Abstract

A method for repairing tissue of a selected organ from among heart, brain, liver, pancreas, kidney, glands, and muscles in a patient's body. Adult stem cells that have the capability to repair tissue of the selected organ are recovered by harvesting from the patient's body. The harvested stem cells are then intraluminally applied through a designated natural body vessel. During the time the stem cells are being applied to the targeted tissue downstream, the designated vessel or duct is selectively occluded to increase concentration and pressure of the applied adult stem cells by the vessel.

1 . A method for repairing tissue of an organ of a patient's body, comprising:
 delivering adult stem cells to the site of the tissue to be repaired, by an intraluminal application through a blood vessel of the site; and   occluding the blood vessel proximal to the location of cell entry therein via the intraluminal application during at least a portion of the duration of the cell delivery to increase the concentration of cells delivered by the blood vessel, and wherein the blood vessel leads to the site of the tissue to be repaired.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the intraluminal application of adult stem cells through a blood vessel is performed through an arterial vessel. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the intraluminal application of adult stem cells through a blood vessel is performed through a venous vessel. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , including employing a balloon catheter for the intraluminal application, and performing the occlusion of the blood vessel by inflating the balloon of the catheter for a time interval prescribed to increase the concentration of cells delivered to said site. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , including introducing a guide wire through the blood vessel to the site, and thereafter advancing the catheter over the guide wire until the distal end of the catheter reaches a selected point in the vicinity of the site for delivering the adult stem cells. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , including harvesting autologous adult cells from the patient's own body as the source of the cells to be delivered to the site. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , including harvesting the autologous adult cells from the patient's bone marrow. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6 , including harvesting the autologous adult cells from the patient's adipose tissue. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the adult stem cells originate from lipoaspirate. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 6 , including performing the harvesting within a sufficiently short time interval immediately prior to the delivery to enhance the likelihood of successful organ tissue repair. 
   
   
       11 . A method of delivering adult multipotent cells to a an organ of a patient comprising:
 placing a balloon catheter in a vessel supporting the organ: and   occluding the vessel at least partially and temporarily during cell delivery proximal to the site of cell delivery for enhanced engraftment of the cells applied to the organ, and wherein the vessel leads to the site of cell delivery.