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Stem Cells From Bone Marrow Help Heart
October 28, 2005

Injecting your own bone marrow "stem" cells can improve left
heart function and exercise capacity even if done long after
a heart attack. This trial shows that older heart muscle damage
can actually be improved in patients with chronic coronary
artery disease (CAD). Dr. Bodo Strauer said, "There is hope for
this large amount of patients with previous heart attack."
	Strauer's trial studied 18 people with heart attacks
from 5 months old to 8 years old. Bone-marrow cells were taken
from their hips, mononuclear cells separated, cultivated and
harvested, then injected into the damaged part of their hearts
by catheter.
	Exercise ability, heart function, coronary artery
blockage, and size of damaged area were tested at trial start
and again 3 months after the stem cell injection.
	Size of damaged heart muscle area went down 30%. EF went
up 15%. Other measures of heart health also went up: Regional
infarct wall-movement velocity improved almost 60%. No one
developed any arrhythmias and no inflammation was seen from the
treatment. N changes were seen in the control group of 18 patients
who had heart attack damage but got no stem cell injection.

Title:   Regeneration of human infarcted heart muscle by
         intracoronary autologous bone marrow cell transplantation
         in chronic coronary artery disease.
Authors: Strauer BE, Brehm M, Zeus T, et al.
Source:  J Am Coll Cardiol 2005; 46: 1651-1658.