Source: Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation
Date: September 14, 2010
Summary:
The first randomized, placebo-controlled U.S. clinical trial to assess the use of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMC) in patients after a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI; severe heart attack) demonstrated a strong safety profile for this cell therapy, based on phase 1 results published in the September issue of the American Heart Journal.
In the single-center trial, researchers at the Minneapolis Heart Institute® at Abbott Northwestern Hospital enrolled 40 patients with STEMI, randomizing them in a 3:1 ratio to 100 million autologous BMCs versus placebo, administered three to ten days following successful primary angioplasty and stenting of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Importantly, the researchers elected to deliver cells by an intracoronary infusion as opposed to the stop-flow technique that had been used in all preceding trials and all patients received an identical number of cells. Administration of BMC was safely performed in all patients with minimal major adverse clinical event rates, and all patients remain alive to date, the researchers reported.
