Cor Vasa 2004, 45(11):537-543

Regeneration of a damaged myocardium by autologous bone marrow cell transplantation

Jaroslav Meluzín^1,*, Jiří Mayer², Ladislav Groch¹, Martin Klabusay², Jiří Vorlíček², Jiří Vítovec¹

¹ I. interní-kardioangiologická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny

² Interní-hematoonkologická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice Bohunice, Brno, Česká republika

The aim of this review is to summarize and discuss current clinical data on autologous bone marrow cell transplantation. Bone marrow cells consist of various kinds of primitive cells with the capacity to differentiate into different cell types including myocytes, endothelial cells, etc. These cells can be used to regenerate damaged heart tissue. Following numerous experimental studies, the first clinical trials have been conducted within the last 3 years. Two most important findings have been reported after cell transplantation: 1. functional improvement in patients surviving an acute myocardial infarction and 2. an increase in perfusion and function in the areas of the ischemic myocardium (mostly hibernating myocardium). In patients with acute myocardial infarction, the intracoronary route of cell implantation was used. In patients with chronic ischemia, an intramyocardial transendocardial approach under the control of electromechanical mapping was applied. No serious adverse events related to autologous bone marrow transplantation have been reported. The main limitation of the studies published thus far is the small number of patients included.
Thus, we must be very cautious about drawing any definitive conclusions. At present, there still remains a lot of unresolved questions which must be answered to further improve the preliminary promising results and to start routine application of cell transplant therapy in clinical practice.

Keywords: Cell transplantation; Bone marrow; Coronary artery disease

Published: November 1, 2004  Show citation