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The role of noninvasive imaging techniques in the assessment of stem cell therapy after acute myocardial infarction

Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine volume 3, pages S38–S41 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Stem cell therapy after acute myocardial infarction is a promising therapeutic strategy. Intermediate-sized clinical trials to answer many unanswered questions must be carefully designed and surrogate end points carefully chosen. Moreover, imaging techniques accurate enough to measure surrogate parameters and to make it possible to reduce sample size are needed. The imaging technique of choice in this setting should be capable of tracking the destiny of the stem cells once injected in the heart and of quantifying left ventricular remodelling parameters. This information will be crucial in the design of multicenter, large, randomized trials to assess survival, which can definitively establish the usefulness of this therapeutic strategy.

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Figure 1: Four-chamber view of the heart seen by magnetic resonance imaging using a late-hyperenhancement sequence after intravenous infusion of gadolinium

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Acknowledgements

The present work was partially financed by the Red de Centros Cardiovasculares (RECAVA) which is supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chief of the Imaging Unit, Institute of Heart Sciences (ICICOR), Hospital Clínico Universitario, Valladolid, Spain

    José Alberto San Román

  2. Chief of the Institute of Heart Sciences (ICICOR), Hospital Clínico Universitario, Valladolid, Spain

    Francisco Fernández-Avilés

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  1. José Alberto San Román
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  2. Francisco Fernández-Avilés
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Correspondence to José Alberto San Román.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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San Román, J., Fernández-Avilés, F. The role of noninvasive imaging techniques in the assessment of stem cell therapy after acute myocardial infarction. Nat Rev Cardiol 3 (Suppl 1), S38–S41 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpcardio0448

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