Stem Cells Therapy for Ischemic Heart Disease

Despite major advances in the management of ischemic heart disease, it remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. To overcome this epidemiological issue, among different treatment options, there has been interest in applying cellular therapy to reduce the acute injury secondary to acute myocardial infarction and to restore cardiac function in chronic ischemic heart disease. Preclinical cell-based therapy has proved to be effective and has yielded encouraging results, which involve preventing or reducing myocardial cell death, inhibiting scar formation, promoting angiogenesis, and improving cardiac function. However, clinical studies have not yet achieved a desired outcome, with several clinical trials showing paradoxical results in terms of cardiac function and remodeling. With this chapter, we aimed to present current preclinical and clinical evidence with stem cells use in the treatment of acute and chronic ischemic heart disease.