A study published earlier this week in The Lancet shows that treating heart attack patients with an infusion of their own heart-derived cells helps damaged hearts re-grow healthy muscle. The study results are from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute clinical trial CADECEUS and is the first-of-its-kind stem cell procedure.

As it has shown that cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) reduce scarring after myocardial infarction, increase viable myocardium, and boost cardiac function in preclinical models, the authors aimed to assess safety of such an approach in patients with left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarction.

The study involved 25 patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction that left them with damaged heart muscle. Eight patients received standard care, and the remaining 17 received the stem cell treatment. The results showed that one year later, scar size was reduced from 24 percent to 12 percent of the heart in patients with cells. Patients also experienced sizable increase in healthy heart muscle following the experimental stem cell treatments. Patients in the control group who did not receive stem cells did not experience a reduction in their heart scars.

Eduardo Marban, MD, PhD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute who invented the procedures and technology involved in the study noted, “While the primary goal of our study was to verify safety, we also looked for evidence that the treatment might dissolve scar and regrow lost heart muscle... this has never been accomplished before, despite a decade of cell therapy trials for patients with heart attacks.”

While the grim concerns about the alarming contributions of health care costs to the national deficit seem to dominate the conversation, who could deny that this is an unprecedented and exciting time for the cv community! Science is moving fast. The ACC wants more medical research and NIH funding to pursue innovative, life-saving therapies. Although funding of stem cell research is often a topic of controversy, we need to publicly educate how life-saving therapies like these are exactly what innovators in medicine and science strive to achieve.

Let’s not forget that this type of innovation requires funding and support, and it’s not looking good for those of us in the U.S. folks. President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Proposal freezes funding for NIH, and many in Congress advocate for significantly slashing funding for innovation and research.  Nonetheless, innovators like Marban are paving the wave of the future. Let’s have at it!