What is the therapeutic angiogenesis?
primarily used in cardiovascular medicine, therapeutic angiogenesis concerns the processes of clinical experiments using human growth factors as a treatment for insufficient blood and tissue perfusion. Doctors may decide to work with therapeutic angiogenesis after the failure of traditional treatment of ischemic heart disease, peripheral arterial disease and macular degeneration, as well as other disorders in which blood and tissue have deteriorated. The process can also help repair chronically damaged tissue associated with cancer and arterial ulcerations such as diabetes related to lower limbs or venous ulceration of the foot. Although this form of angiogenesis is classified as experimental, it has begun to obtain the respect of doctors at the end of the 20th century. The desire to replicate this processs has led to scientific identification of cytokin protein vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that is one of the main molecules responsible for signaling the human body when it is time to start Regeneration of tissue. This discovery gave the medical community the information necessary to initiate the development of therapeutic angiogenesis in the clinical environment. The use of the process was first used by Dr. Napoleone Ferrara in 1989 to treat macular degeneration related to age, quickly spread to other disorders.
Since the discovery of the therapeutic angiogenesis, scientists have identified several other substances of cytokines, including fibroblast growth factors (FGF), a factor of the stimulating colony of granulocytes and the placental growth factor, as well as many others. While some of them have a reputation causing an undesirable increase in patient cellular activity, others have the potential to stimulate damaged blood vessels in patients suffering from cancer and numerous vascular diseases. To support these potential benefits, several well -known organizations of scientific studies focused on clinical uses for therapeutic treatmentincluding human growth factors. Experiments VIVA from the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation have shown a significant improvement in patients with angina treated with high doses of VEGF, while studies conducted by the medical center of St. Elizabeth revealed VEGF capacity to improve angiogenesis in patients suffering from critical limb ischemia.
Therapeutic angiogenesis may remain in the experimental category for some time because other tests are necessary to identify its long -term risks and benefits. The most urgent problems associated with treatment include determining the best method of delivery, defining the right dose and discovering that angiogenic growth factors work best for specific conditions. If questions are satisfactorily answered, therapy could become an important element of treatment plans for people with vascular diseases and other types of conditions that cause tissue damage.