More than half a million Americans each year have their first
heart attack, a sudden blockage of an artery that deprives heart
muscle of blood and oxygen. The resulting injury and scarring
often contribute to a gradual loss of the heart's pumping
strength, a condition known as congestive heart failure.
Researchers hope that cellular cardiomyoplasty, the use of
transplanted stem cells to replace lost heart muscle cells, will
do what current treatments cannot: prevent heart muscle loss
after heart attack. Animal studies have shown that MSCs injected
into heart muscle following a heart attack decreased the death
of muscle cells and increased pumping strength. The new study is
a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase I clinical
trial with patients randomized to receive either an injection of
0.5 million, 1.6 million or 5.0 million cultured adult
mesenchymal stem cells (tradename: Provacel) per kilogram of
body weight, or placebo. There will be 17 active study sites.
Along with the treatment or placeb