Disease Fact Sheet: Myocardinal Infarctions (Heart Attacks)
Clinical Status: Clinical trials began in the early 2000s with transplantation of bone marrow stem cells, followed by cells derived from adult hearts. These trials demonstrated that cell therapy for acute MI or chronic heart failure is feasible and generally safe for patients. Early trials with small numbers of patients suggested the possibility of improved cardiac function but as the field moved into larger trials that were randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled, there were fewer indications of improved function. Taken together, the consensus now is that adult cells have only modest, if any, benefit to cardiac function (Eschenhagen et al, 2017). The first trials of human pluripotent stem cell derivatives were recently performed, with “patches” of human cardiac cells placed onto the surface of the failing heart (Menasché et al, 2018). Early results suggest that this approach is feasible and safe, but it is too early to know whether there are functional benefits.