Stem Cell Study for Patients With Heart Failure

Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center of Boston, USA, recently announced that they were undertaking a trial of adult stem cell therapy for heart disease. The purpose of this study is to determine if cell therapy with a patient's own cells (autologous cells) delivered with a catheter to regions of the heart with poor blood flow will be safe and if it will improve ejection fraction and heart failure symptoms.

The goal of this study is to determine the safety of various doses of autologous (one’s own) stem cells, delivered with a catheter into the regions of the heart with poor blood flow. Stem cells are primitive cells produced by bone marrow that can develop into blood cells or other types of cells. In addition to determining whether this new approach is safe, the diagnostic tests may offer preliminary insights into the usefulness of this approach for treating myocardial ischemia (the condition where areas in the heart are lacking enough oxygen and blood flow to keep the heart muscle working well).

For more details see Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center website.