Patients with weakened heart function who receive stem cell therapy soon after a heart attack may face a lower risk of developing heart failure, a new study has found.
Heart failure often follows a heart attack when the heart muscle suffers severe damage.
Weakening its ability to pump blood efficiently.
This can occur suddenly (acute heart failure) or gradually over time.
Common symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue, swelling in the legs, and irregular heartbeat.
The BMJ published the clinical trial highlighting the potential of stem cell therapy.
Researchers found that it could serve as an effective add-on treatment to prevent heart failure.
Furthermore, complications in heart attack patients.
Researchers published the clinical trial in the BMJ. They reported that stem cell therapy could effectively prevent heart failure and future complications in heart attack patients.
They monitored how this procedure affected heart failure development over three years.
“The results suggest that this technique could serve as a valuable supportive treatment after a heart attack to prevent heart failure and reduce the risk of future adverse events,” the researchers said.
The trial involved 396 patients aged between 57 and 59 at three teaching hospitals in Iran.
All participants had experienced their first myocardial infarction and had no prior heart conditions.
Among them, 136 patients received allogenic Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells via intracoronary infusion within 3-7 days.
This was after the heart attack, in addition to standard care.
The remaining 260 patients received standard care alone.
Compared with the control group, patients who received stem cells had fewer cases of heart failure (2.77 vs. 6.48 per 100 person-years).
They also had lower hospital readmissions for heart failure (0.92 vs. 4.20 per 100 person-years).
Additionally, the group showed fewer combined cases of cardiovascular death or readmission for heart attack or heart failure (2.8 vs. 7.16 per 100 person-years).
Although the therapy did not significantly affect the rate of readmission for heart attack or cardiovascular death, heart function in the treatment group showed notable improvement within six months.
Researchers emphasised that more trials are necessary to confirm these promising findings.
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