The first trip gave Dr. Smith, age 80, a stronger heart muscle. The second he believes will help increase blood flow throughout his body. Dr. Smith is believed to be one of the first patients in the world to receive two different treatments of adult stem cells. "I don't think there are too many people going to the other side of the world to get stem cell treatment once, much less twice." he said with a grin.

Don Maroglis, founder of Theravitae firmly believes that this is the beginning of a new trend of stem cell therapy. One therapy to concentrate on the heart muscle for heart failure, another therapy to deal with the vascular problems commonly associated with heart conditions. "We just want our patients to have a better quality of life" he said.

Dr. Smith's story is not atypical. 'When I asked about stem cells, my cardiologist said "Why not? I certainly have nothing else to offer you", and so I came to Bangkok in February of 2006. By April I was feeling quite well. I had no shortness of breath and my Six Minute Walk Test had already doubled. I had stopped my descent. However,I was like a kid in a candy shop, I wanted more stem cells' he added.

'It was not the big blood vessels that were the problem, but the small ones. We felt that the second procedure with a catheter injection of stem cells directly into the coronary arteries would assist the regrowth of small blood vessels' he said. "My life was closing in on me. There comes a point where the medicines no longer give you a quality of life and, of course, heart transplants are reserved for the young. And so, you run out of slack and you run out of options. So I said 'Make mine a double.'" he laughed.

About TheraVitae:
TheraVitae is a private, multinational company focused on using stem cells from the patient's own blood in order to treat a variety of disorders, especially cardiovascular diseases. The company has developed a proprietary stem cell technology, 'VesCell', that is currently being used by hospitals in Thailand and Singapore to treat patients with heart disease and peripheral artery disease.

VesCell -- A Natural Treatment for Heart Disease and Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)
The body has natural ways of healing itself and the cardiovascular system is no exception. Angiogenic Cell Precursors (ACPs) originate in bone marrow and then circulate in the blood vessels. To manufacture VesCell, TheraVitae expands a small number of ACPs harvested from about 250cc of blood into a therapeutic quantity. VesCell is injected either through a coronary artery via catheter, or during surgery, directly into the heart muscle.

A key aspect of VesCell therapy is the advanced cell isolation and expansion technique that allows for the ACPs to be harvested from blood collected in a procedure similar to a common blood donation. VesCell uses a patient's own adult stem cells to treat Heart Disease and PAD and is a viable therapeutic possibility for heart or PAD patients without any other treatment option.

TheraVitae Corporate Web Site: http://www.theravitae.com
VesCell Web Site: http://www.vescell.com
Company Blog: http://www.stem-cell-therapy.blogspot.com