Bone marrow cell transplantation in Chagas' disease heart failure: report of the first human experience.

Background: Heart failure due to Chagas' disease (HFCD) is a progressive inflammatory cardiomyopathy that affects millions of individuals in Latin America. Studies using mice models of HFCD indicate that bone marrow mononuclear cell transplantation (BMCT) may reduce inflammation, fibrosis, and improve myocardial function.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate, for the first time in humans, the safety and efficacy of BMCT to the myocardium of patients with HFCD.

[Early results of bone marrow cell transplantation to the myocardium of patients with heart failure due to Chagas disease].

Objective: To evaluate early effects of bone marrow cell transplantation to the myocardium of patients with heart failure (CHF) due to Chagas disease.

Methods: We studied 28 patients (mean age 52.2 +/- 9.

Bone marrow cell transplantation to the myocardium of a patient with heart failure due to Chagas' disease.

We report the first case of bone marrow cell transplantation to the myocardium of a patient with heart failure due to chagas' disease. The patient is a 52-year-old man with chronic heart failure, NYHA functional class III, despite the optimized clinical therapy. The procedure consisted of aspiration of 50 mL of bone marrow through puncture of the iliac crest, followed by filtration, separation of the mononuclear cells, resuspension, and intracoronary injection.