New Delhi, Oct 30 (NationPress) A recent study indicates that patients experiencing weakened heart function who undergo stem cell therapy shortly after suffering a heart attack are at a lower risk of developing heart failure.

Heart failure can arise post-heart attack when the heart muscle sustains significant damage, diminishing its capacity to effectively pump blood.

This condition can manifest either as a sudden complication (acute heart failure) or as a long-term issue. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, fatigue, swelling in the legs, and irregular heartbeat.

Published in the BMJ, the clinical trial suggests that stem cell therapy could serve as a beneficial supplementary treatment for this specific patient group after a heart attack, helping to avert subsequent heart failure and lower the risk of future adverse outcomes.

An international research team, including experts from Queen Mary University of London in the UK, aimed to evaluate the effects of directly administering stem cells into coronary arteries (known as intracoronary infusion) following a heart attack on heart failure development over a span of three years.

“The outcomes imply that this methodology could be a crucial adjunctive procedure post-myocardial infarction for preventing heart failure and mitigating future adverse events,” the research team stated.

The trial involved 396 participants (average age 57-59 years) without prior heart conditions from three teaching hospitals in Iran, all of whom had experienced their first heart attack (myocardial infarction).

Of these, 136 individuals in the intervention group received an intracoronary infusion of allogenic Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells within 3-7 days post-heart attack, alongside standard care.

The remaining 260 participants in the control group received only standard care.

When compared to the control group, the intracoronary infusion of stem cells was linked to lower rates of heart failure (2.77 vs. 6.48 per 100 person years), reduced hospital readmissions for heart failure (0.92 vs. 4.20 per 100 person years), and a combined measure of cardiovascular death and readmissions for heart attack or heart failure (2.8 vs. 7.16 per 100 person years).

The intervention did not exhibit a statistically significant impact on hospital readmissions for heart attack or deaths resulting from cardiovascular diseases.

However, by the six-month mark, heart function within the intervention group showed a significantly greater improvement compared to the control group, emphasizing the necessity for further trials to validate these findings.