Autologous bone marrow stem cell therapy for the ischemic myocardium during coronary artery bypass grafting

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Especially the treatment of ischemic heart disease challenges physicians despite recent advances in medical and operative strategies. Due to the considerable developments in regenerative medicine cell‐based treatment for ischemic heart disease has attracted great interest in the last decade. Numerous experimental and clinical approaches employing stem cell treatment from various sources and using different methods of cell delivery have shown improvement in cardiac function after acute or chronic ischemic jeopardy. In this report we will focus on our long‐term experience on the safety of bone marrow derived CD133⁺ stem cell transplantation with concomitant coronary artery bypass surgery and provide an overview of the current knowledge on utilizing cell‐based treatment for ischemic heart disease.

• stem cells
• myocardial regeneration
• myocardial ischemia
• cardiac surgery
• heart failure