Making a Play at Regrowing Hearts

Results from the first round of controlled human stem cell trials for heart disease are in. What have we learned? BY KENNETH CHIEN	A bleedng heart, Dicentra formosa © ROBERT ESSEL NYC/CORBIS

For patients with chronic degenerative diseases such as heart failure, regenerative medicine holds great promise. It is this compelling need that has created a sense of urgency, leading to a faster pace in the field of cardiovascular stem cell therapy than perhaps for any other medical indication. Every day is a game day, and for patients with severe heart failure it is truly a sudden death situation. Although international teams of cardiologists have been called to the playing field of translational stem cell therapy for heart disease, it has been difficult to gauge how close we are to the desired goal of cardiac regeneration.