Effect of Intracoronary Injection of Mononuclear Bone Marrow Stem Cells on Left Ventricular Function in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction

To investigate the effect of intracoronary injection of autologous mononuclear bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) on left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function using standard echocardiography and 2-dimensional systolic strain. A total of 60 patients with first anterior wall STEMI and LV ejection fraction of <40%, treated with successful primary percutaneous coronary intervention were randomly assigned to the treatment group (BMSC group) or the control group in a 2:1 ratio. Transcatheter intracoronary injection of BMSCs into the infarct-related artery was performed 7 days after STEMI. Standard echocardiography and speckle tracking analysis was performed at baseline and 6 months after STEMI. No differences were found in the baseline echocardiographic parameters of LV systolic and diastolic dysfunction—the LV ejection fraction was 35 ± 6% in the BMSC group, similar to that in the control group (33 ± 7%, p = 0.42). After 6 months, the absolute change in the LV ejection fraction was significantly greater in the BMSC group than in the control group (10 ± 9% versus 5 ± 8%, p = 0.04). Significant improvement was seen in 2-dimensional systolic strain in all segments (12 ± 4 vs 14 ± 4; p = 0.0009) and in the infarcted area (5 ± 2 vs 6 ± 2; p = 0.0038) only in the BMSC group. Of the diastolic function parameters, we observed improvement in the early filling propagation velocity (30 ± 8 cm/s vs 37 ± 13 cm/s; p = 0.0008), early diastolic velocity − E′ (4.5 ± 1.5 vs 5.0 ± 1.3, p = 0.02), and the E/E′ ratio (17 ± 7 vs 14 ± 5; p = 0.03) in the BMSC group. In conclusion, intracoronary injection of unselected BMSCs in patients with STEMI improved both LV systolic and diastolic function at 6 months of follow-up.