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(Circulation. 2003;107:e9040.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

A New Route to Revascularization

Intramyocardial injections of stem cells derived from bone marrow were safe and seemed to indicate a potential for improvement in the patients with heart failure who received them, said members of an international team that reported its results in this week’s issue of the journal Circulation (Circulation. 2003;107:2294–2302). This work was based on several years of research in experimental animal models led by James Willerson, MD, Yong-Jian Geng, MD, and Emerson Perin, MD,at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Tex.

View larger version (89K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Emerson Perin, MD, PhD

"The most important result is that the procedure is safe," said Emerson Perin, MD, PhD, of the Texas Heart Institute, who was lead author of the study. Dr Perin presented his results during the scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in Chicago, Ill, at the beginning of April. "There were no major procedural complications or periprocedural complications," he said.

"Symptoms improved in terms of heart failure and angina class," he said. "There was improvement in functional capacity. Many [patients] had dramatic changes in terms of lifestyle."

The test was carried out at the Procardiaco Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by clinical research teams from that hospital and the Texas Heart Institute. Fourteen patients received the stem cell injections, and 7 patients served as controls.

All the patients had severe coronary artery disease with heart failure, and none were candidates for standard revascularization techniques, said Dr Perin. At baseline, all patients received complete clinical and laboratory evaluations, exercise stress tests, 2D . . . [Full Text of this Article]