Journal of cellular and molecular medicine
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Recent clinical studies have demonstrated that intracoronary infusion of autologous bone marrow cells (BMC) in conjunction with standard treatment may improve left ventricular function after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the results of these studies remain controversial, as the studies were relatively small in size and partially differed in design. We reviewed primary controlled randomized clinical studies comparing intracoronary transfer of autologous non-mobilized BMC combined with standard therapy versus standard therapy alone in patients with AMI. ⋯ Thus, considering the increase in LVEF during follow-up, transplantation of BMC may be a safe and beneficial procedure to support treatment of AMI. However, the functional improvement observed with this form of therapy was altogether relatively moderate and the studies were heterogeneous in design. Hence, further efforts aiming at large-scale, double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled multi-center trials in conjunction with better definition of patients, which benefit from BMC infusion, appear to be warranted.