The efficacy of bone marrow mononuclear stem cell transplantation in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy-a meta analysis.

Cardiomyopathy refers to a wide spectrum of heart pathologies that interfere with normal heart function. Management options of patients with cardiomyopathy depended mainly on the severity of the condition. Lifestyle modifications and regular exercise together with a healthy diet is compatible for mild conditions. Severe conditions, however, rely on medications or surgery. Here, we aim to investigate the efficacy of bone marrow mononuclear stem cell transplantation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane CENTRAL for relevant clinical trials and excluded observational studies. We performed the quality assessment of this study following GRADE guidelines. The assessment of the risk of bias was performed by the Cochrane’s risk of bias tool. We present an analysis of the following outcomes: left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), and six minutes walking test. Data were pooled as mean differences (MD) and relative confidence intervals (CI). The analysis of 667 patients from 11 studies receiving autologous bone marrow cell therapy for non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy is presented. A total of 338 patients were allocated to the treatment group, and 329 participants entered the control group. The mean age of the patients in the treatment group is 52.4 ± 4.3 years, while that of the control is 53.7 ± 3.7 years. Seven studies (14.18–23) reported transplantation through the intracoronary route. Table 1 shows a summary of the baseline characteristics of the included studies and participants, the number of injected cells, and the type of injected cells in each trial. Table 2 summarizes and illustrates the previous treatment history of included patients in each trial, as well as the baseline values of different scores used as outcome measures in this analysis. We found that bone marrow mononuclear stem cell therapy leads to significantly increased LVEF (MD = 4.54%, 95% CI [3.52, 5.56], P < 0.0001). Patients in the transplant group experienced less left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (millimeter) than the control arm (MD = −1.86 mm, 95% CI [−4.01, 0.29], P = 0.09). Additionally, Patients in the transplant group could walk 28.53 m more than the controls (MD = 28.53 m, 95% CI [2.51, 54.55], P = 0.03). Transplantation of bone marrow stem cells yields acceptable results regarding left ventricular ejection fraction and lowers the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter. Additionally, the six minutes walking test is improved in the transplant group.