A stem cell treatment for patients experiencing heart failure significantly improved their heart function in a small but promising new study.

一则新的研究显示，对心力衰竭患者采用干细胞治疗法可极大提升患者的心脏功能，前景广阔。

In heart failure, the heart loses its ability to efficiently pump blood.

所谓心力衰竭，就是心脏泵血功能失效。

It is most often caused by a heart attack, which destroys some of the muscle tissue essential to a normal heartbeat.

心力衰竭通常是由心脏病发作造成，会损坏心肌组织，导致心脏无法正常跳动。

In this new study, patients were injected with adult stem cells taken from their own hearts.

在这则新研究中，患者被注入了自己的心脏干细胞。

These are a special kind of undifferentiated cell found throughout the body that helps to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found.

这些取自患者身体各处的干细胞，彼此之间并无差异，但其特殊性在于可以帮助患者维护并修复其同源组织。

Doctors use a measure called 'ejection fraction' to describe the heart's ability to pump blood.

医学上用“射血分数”来表示心脏泵血能力。

Study author Dr. Roberto Bolli of the University of Louisville says people in the control group showed no significant improvement in that measure.

这则研究的发起者是路易斯维尔大学的罗伯托，他表示，实验对照组患者的射血分数并无明显改善。

But he called the improvement in the stem cell patients "striking."

但干细胞的改善“惊人”。

At four months, the pumping ability of the heart was markedly improved.

四个月的时候，心脏的泵血能力就有显著提升。

The ejection fraction increased by eight points at four months, and at one year it increased by 12 points.

数据显示，射血分数在四个月时提升了4点，一年后上升了12点。

Now, this is a huge increase, much greater than what we even hoped for when we started our study.
如今看来，这是巨大的提升了，比我们在实验之初所希望的还要好。

And Bolli says there was a significant improvement in the ability of the stem cell recipients to exercise.

罗伯特还说，注入了干细胞的心脏病患者，心肌能力有显著提升。

The study participants also got MRI scans before and after treatment.
参加该研究的患者在治疗前后都进行了磁共振成像。

A year after getting the stem cells, the images showed a 30 percent reduction in the scars of dead heart muscle.
注入干细胞一年后，患者心肌坏死的疤痕减少了30%。

The reduction of the scar implies that new heart muscle is being produced to replace that scar.
疤痕减少的事实表明患者生成的新心肌代替了疤痕处的坏死心肌。

And so it is evidence that the stem cells are regenerating new heart muscle.
所以这证明干细胞可以再生新心肌。

——以上选自VOA英语新闻

       SCLnow^®圣释多年来致力于干细胞转换医学和再生医学的研究与实践，率先发布了干细胞质量控制标准专利技术，填补了行业空白，继而参与主导制定间充质干细胞的国际系列标准和国家系列标准，在脐带间充质干细胞的临床研究和临床应用领域贡献累累硕果。

SCLnow^®圣释是一家致力于干细胞转换医学和再生医学的全产业链跨国企业。

SCLnow^® is a full-industry-chain transnational enterprise combining stem cells translational medicine and regenerative medicine.