Intracoronary injection of mononuclear bone marrow cells after acute myocardial infarction: lessons from the ASTAMI trial

We studied 100 patients with anterior wall acute myocardial infarction. Patients were randomized to intracoronary administration of autologous mononuclear bone marrow cells (n = 50) or a control group (n = 50). After 6 months follow-up, there was a similar improvement in global left ventricular ejection fraction in the groups. It has been suggested that suboptimal cell processing accounts for the negative results. However, cells processed according to the protocol used in the ASTAMI study are viable and proven to be efficacious for patients with haematological diseases. The ASTAMI study was powered to detect a 5% increase in LVEF, and our results do not exclude smaller effects of this treatment.