Autologous Cellular Cardiac-implant

Acute myocardial infarction leads to loss of functional myocytes and structural integrity of the heart. Autologous cell transplantation to repair or regenerate injured myocardium is a new direction in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. The clinical advantage of this approach known as cellular cardiac-implant for myocardial repair is obvious because autologous myoblast implantation avoids many of the logistical difficulties associated with cardiac transplant, as well as the need for immunosuppression therapy. Autologous skeletal myoblasts appear to be the most well studied and best first generation cells for cardiac repair. Today more than twenty patients wordwide have been operated with this technique. However the era of cell transplantation has only begun. What type of cell is the best? and What is the efficacy? are major questions that remain to be answered. Nor is it known whether cardiac muscle can form electromechanical junctions with skeletal muscle grafts and induce synchronous contraction. Autologous cellular cardiac-implant offers the promise of restoring regional function for patients who have had a myocardial infarction. Future studies will need to establish the efficacy of this approach.