Long-Term Results of Intracardiac Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients With Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which have the potential to differentiate into cardiomyocytes or vascular endothelial cells, have been used clinically as therapy for cardiomyopathy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the long-term follow-up results.

Methods and results: We studied 8 patients with symptomatic heart failure (HF) on guideline-directed therapy (ischemic cardiomyopathy, n=3; nonischemic cardiomyopathy, n=5) who underwent intracardiac MSC transplantation using a catheter-based injection method between May 2004 and April 2006.

Intravenous Autologous Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cell Transplantation for Stroke: Phase1/2a Clinical Trial in a Homogeneous Group of Stroke Patients.

The goal of this clinical trial was to assess the feasibility and safety of transplanting autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells into patients suffering severe embolic stroke. Major inclusion criteria included patients with cerebral embolism, age 20-75 years, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score displaying improvement of ≤ 5 points during the first 7 days after stroke, and NIHSS score of ≥ 10 on day 7 after stroke. Bone marrow aspiration (25 or 50 mL; N = 6 patients in each case) was performed 7-10 days poststroke, and bone marrow mononuclear cells were administrated intravenously.

The first clinical pilot study of intravenous adrenomedullin administration in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Adrenomedullin (AM) is a 52-amino-acid vasodilator peptide that was originally isolated from human pheochromocytoma. In the previous experimental study with rat ischemia/reperfusion model, AM reduced infarct size and inhibited myocyte apoptosis. AM also suppressed the production of oxygen-free radicals.