Stem Cells Benefit Heart Failure Patients

The injection of heart failure patients' own stem cells directly into their hearts has resulted in markedly improved heart function, according to a new study at the University of Pittsburgh McGowan Institute for Regenerative Surgery Medicine (PA, USA).

Fifteen patients underwent the stem-cell procedure and all had some degree of improvement, some with dramatic results, while the 15 patients randomized to receive only injections of their own blood serum showed no improvements. The study took place at healthcare centers in South America, where the research team obtained the necessary institutional and government health-agency approvals, and each patient provided informed consent.

All 30 patients in the study had severe heart failure, with ejection fraction rates of less than 35%. The cells believed to have the greatest therapeutic benefit, CD34+ cells, were isolated from the bone marrow harvested from patients' hip bones. Patients received the stem cells in 25-30 injections, while the second group received their own blood in the injections. Neither group had any significant side effects or complications, including abnormal heart rhythms.

Prior to the study, the treatment group had an average ejection fraction rate of 26%. Six months later, this had improved to 46%, with the lowest rate rising to 38% and the highest climbing to 52%. With the six-month follow-up now completed, the patients randomized to receive only their own blood are now eligible to receive their own bone-marrow stem cells. The results of the study were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Thoracic Surgery in Tampa (FL, USA) in January 2005.

"It is remarkable the level of improvement we've seen in these patients, who came to us with no other medical or surgical options available to them,” remarked Amit N. Patel, M.D., M.S., who led the study. "However, we don't yet fully understand how these cells work, whether they differentiate to become heart muscle cells or cells that promote vessel growth, or whether they serve as homing signals to other cells and substances that help with repair.”



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U. Pittsburgh McGowan Inst.