Efficacy and safety of intracoronary autologous bone marrow-derived cell transplantation in patients with acute myocardial infarction: insights from randomized controlled trials with 12 or more months follow-up.

Background Until now there was no systematic review concerning the chronic effects of intracoronary bone marrow-derived cell (BMC) transplantation in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI). Hypothesis Improvement of cardiac function in patients with acute MI post BMC transplantation might last longer than 12 months. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane database through June 2009. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials of intracoronary BMC transfer in acute MI patients with follow-up duration equal to or longer than 12 months. Results A total of 8 trials involving 725 participants were identified. Compared with controls, BMC transplantation significantly improved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by 4.37% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.66%–6.08%; P < 0.00001), reduced left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) by 5.71 mL (95% CI: 2.03–9.40 mL; P = 0.002), left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) by 8.94 mL (95% CI: 4.22–13.66 mL; P = 0.0002), and infarct size by 2.42% (95% CI: 1.33%–3.51%, P < 0.00001). Bone marrow-derived cell treatment also significantly reduced the risk of death (relative risk [RR]: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.13–0.89; P = 0.03), while the risk of reinfarction was similar between the 2 groups (RR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.09–4.12; P = 0.62). Subgroup analysis showed that the BMC transplantation-induced LVEF increase was more significant in patients age < 55 and with cells transferred 6 or 7 days after MI. Conclusion Beneficial effects of intracoronary BMC transplantation could last more than 12 months in acute MI patients. Copyright © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.