Researchers are reporting that adult stem cells from heart-attack patients helped to improve blood-pumping ability and restore vitality in cardiac muscle.
They said that the results triple the 4 percent improvement average the researchers projected for the Phase I trial.
The team conducted the “Cardiac Stem Cells in Patients with Ischemic CardiOmyopathy” (SCIPO) trial with 16 patients who were diagnosed with heart failure after a myocardial infarction.
They harvested cardiac stem cells from the patents during coronary artery bypass surgery conducted at Jewish Hospital in Louisville.
The stem cells were purified in a Boston lab and reintroduced into the region of the patient’s heart that had been scarred by the infarction.
They found an 8.5 percent improvement just four months after the reintroduction of stem cells and 12 percent after a year.
The team also conducted MRI studies on the patients’ hearts and saw that the size of the scarred regions had decreased.
Dr. Roberto Bolli of the University of Louisville, who is the leader author of a paper published in the journal The Lancet, said the adult stem cell protocol could become one of the greatest advancements in cardiac treatment in a generation.
“The results are striking,” Bolli said in a statement. “While we do not yet know why the improvement occurs, we have no doubt now that ejection fraction increased and scarring decreased. If these results hold up in future studies, I believe this could be the biggest revolution in cardiovascular medicine in my lifetime.”
The researchers said these findings are preliminary and larger-scale studies must be undertaken before the therapy can be widely used.
Bolli said he is already looking forward to a larger study, and they “plan to apply for funding to conduct a Phase II multi-center trial.”
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