Stem Cell Therapy Has Postive Results for Cardiomyopathy Patients

Stem cell treatment did 37% better than placebo treatment in a group of patients with ischemic heart failure, Timothy D. Henry, MD of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA and colleagues reported.

In a multi-center trial, investigators used imyelocel-T, an expanded multicellular therapy produced from a patient’s own bone marrow. They extract CD90+ mesenchymal stem cells and CD45+CD14+ auto-fluorescent+ activated macrophages.

The prepared cells were delivered by transendocardial injection using a catheter-based approach.

Patients in the study had ejection fraction of less than 35%, an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator and were not well enough for revascularization procedures.

Subjects and controls got either ixmyelocel-T or placebo after undergoing bone marrow aspiration. The procedures were done under anesthesia and the bone marrow was extracted from the posterior iliac crest.

In the treatment group (66 patients) 38% experienced a serious event compared to a rate of 49% in the placebo group (51 patients.)

Ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy is a common condition in patients whose coronary heart disease has progressed, and a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in these patients.

It is also the largest cause of hospital readmissions in the US, the team noted.

The trial, known as ixCELL-DCM, shows the therapy is promising and “should stimulate additional cell therapy trials to further explore the benefit of cell therapy in patients with heart failure,” they wrote.

The study was presented April 4 at the American College of Cardiology's 65th Scientific Session & Expo in Chicago, IL and was simultaneously published in The Lancet.