Optimal Delivery Strategy for Stem Cell Therapy in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease

Abstract

Stem cell therapy is a new strategy for patients with ischemic heart disease. However, no consensus exists on the most optimal delivery strategy, but an important factor that determines the success of stem cell therapy is the choice of cell delivery route to the heart. Delivery strategy affects the fate of cells and subsequently influences outcome of proce‐ dure. Our review summarizes current approaches for administration of stem cells to the heart. Three most used approaches are intracoronary, intramyocardial, and epicardial injection. They have been widely used for delivery of different types of cells. There are several advantages of these stem cell administration approaches, but stem cell retention and stem cell survival rates are quite low using these methods, which might limit their therapeutic effects. Alternative attempts to improve current stem cell therapy methods are reviewed along with emerging new stem cell delivery approaches. The present chap‐ ter displays the current status on stem cell delivery techniques, their efficacy, and clinical success in different trials.