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Cell therapy of acute myocardial infarctions yields benefit after 5 years follow up
The group of the ECCPS investigators Dr. Zeiher and Dr. Dimmeler presented the long term follow up of the randomized, double blind, placebo controlled multicenter REPAIR-AMI trial, which investigated the effect of cell therapy with bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Dr. Leistner, who is a physician scientist in the Department of Cardiology, showed 5-year follow-up data for the clinical outcomes of 100 of the 101 patients originally randomized to BMC treatment and for 100 of the 103 patients originally in the placebo control group. After 5 years, the combined rate of death, MI, or need for revascularization was 64% in the placebo patients and 42% in the BMC patients, a statistically significant difference in a prespecified end point. Moreover, the improvements in ejection fraction was maintained up to 5 years follow-up as seen in a MRI substudy.