ABSTRACT
We prospectively studied bone marrow stem cell (BMSC) therapy in 23 patients with non ischemic refractory heart failure(HF) in comparison with a HF control group with 17 patients. BMSC patients randomly underwent granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) administration (14 patients) or G-CSF associated to BMSC intracoronary infusion (eight patients). After the first month all BMSC patients received G-CSF with one-month interval between each one. CD34+ cell peaks (per mm(3)) in BMSC patients were 19+/-12 and in normal control 60+/-20 (p=0.003). In BMSC patients after the 1st G-CSF left ventricular(LV) ejection fraction (EF) increased from 21.4+/-4.7% to 23.6+/-7.7%(p=.048), peak VO(2) (ml/kg/min) from 9.9+/-2.4 to 11.6+/-3 (p=.04), functional class and quality of life improved whereas in the HF control group LVEF, RFEF and functional class were unchanged. Both BMSC subgroups presented improvement of LV function evaluated by DTI velocities. Evaluations after the first month in BMSC patients showed improvements in LVEF (p=.001), right VEF (p=0.01), DTI velocities (p=.009), peak VO(2) (p=0.04), functional class (p<0.001) and quality of life (p<0.001). In conclusion, CD34+ mobilization is impaired in HF. Stem cell therapy can improve HF. Randomized trials should be developed to confirm our results.
