Study Protocol of Intramyocardial Injection of Autologous Bone Marrow Stem Cells for Refractory Angina

Therapeutic neovascularization is an innovative strategy for cardiac tissue recovery due to chronic, intense ischemia. Thus stem cell therapy has become a promising procedure for the large number of patients with refractory angina due to coronary disease, despite of the use of multiple anti-angina medications, remain severely symptomatic with disabling angina. Stem cell therapy using autologous cells from the patient's bone marrow, has been shown to be safe and associated with improved myocardial perfusion, reducing the symptoms of advanced coronary artery disease and increasing the functional capacity of patients whose therapeutic armamentarium available today has been exhausted. The study hypothesis was that the infusion of autologous mononuclear cells derived from the patient's bone marrow and delivered via intramyocardial injection in patients with refractory angina and normal or slightly depressed ventricular function, promote improvement in the anginal symptoms and myocardial perfusion by the inducing neoangiogenesis.