7-year results of cell therapy in patients with severe ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Background: Intracoronary infusion of autologous bone marrow cells (CTX) has been shown to improve myocardial function in post infarct patients and in patients with chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy. Long term results of CTX are unknown.

Methods And Results: In this small pilot study, eleven patients with chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy and ejection fraction (EF) of 19 +/- 1% were treated with CTX and followed for 7 years.