Stem Cells May Ease Angina

Cardiac injections of hematopoietic stem cells can help relieve refractory chest pain, report researchers in the first randomized US trial of stem cells for chronic angina.  Douglas W. Losordo, from Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Illinois, USA), and colleagues completed  a large phase II study in which a relatively low dose of patients’ own CD34-positive stem cells reduced weekly angina episodes to 6.8, compared with 10.9 among placebo-treated patients at six months .  The benefits persisted out to one year, along with a substantial boost in exercise capability.