Stem cell therapy for ischemic heart failure

As the prevalence and incidence of ischemic heart disease continue to increase, so does interest in ischemic heart failure management. Limitations of current therapies have led to research aimed at regenerating and repairing ischemically damaged myocardium through stem-cell therapy. Cell types being evaluated include embryonic stem cells, fetal and neonatal cardiomyocytes, skeletal myoblasts, bone marrow stem cells, peripheral blood CD34(+) cells, endothelial progenitor cells, cardiac progenitor cells, and fibroblasts. Preclinical animal studies and promising early results of clinical trials now under way suggest that stem-cell therapy may soon become an important new tool in heart failure management.