Stem Cell Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction: The European Experience

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains the single leading cause of death in the world. The management of acute myocardial infarction has evolved over the past decade to the current international standard of acute percutaneous revascularization. This strategy has resulted in reduced mortality at the time of the AMI, but a significant percentage of patients still develop remodeling and heart failure within years of the infarct. Stem cell therapy has been shown to be effective in reducing acute myocardial injury in many preclinical models and thus became one of leading candidates for novel interventions to reduce long-term complications of AMI.The initial trials were all conducted in Europe with almost exclusive use of the patient's own bone marrow mononuclear cells for optimal safety. This chapter details the results of this series of studies that were conducted as the first trials of stem cell therapy for cardiovascular disease. These results led to additional trials conducted in the United States, which are detailed in the following Chapter 8B.