OBJECTIVETo evaluate the safety and efficacy of intracoronary autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) transplantation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

METHODSOn top of standard therapy, DCM patients received BM-MNCs transplantation (n = 71) or saline injection (n = 187). The baseline clinical characteristics of two groups were comparable. Data on echocardiography, Holter, six-minute-walk test, cardiac SPECT and annual hospital days were obtained in all patients at baseline, 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after transplantation.

RESULTSSix-minute-walk distance was significantly longer at one month [(345 +/- 76) m vs. (286 +/- 104) m, P < 0.05] and thereafter (all P < 0.05) in BM-MNCs group compared with saline group. Left ventri ocular ejection fraction (LVEF) at one month in BM-MNCs group was significantly higher compared with saline group [(41.5 +/- 9.4)% vs. (37.3 +/- 6.6)%, P < 0.05] and with pre-transplantation value [(41.5 +/- 9.4)% vs. (32.4 +/- 8.5)%, P < 0.05] while LVEF was similar at 24 months after transplantation between the two groups [(43.6 +/- 6.3)% vs. (43.2 +/- 6.0)%, P > 0.05]. Three months after transplantation, the number of ischemic segments of BM-MNCs group was significantly reduced compared with that of saline group (2.0 +/- 1.0 vs. 3.1 +/- 1.4, P < 0.05) and with baseline (2.0 +/- 1.0 vs. 3.1 +/- 1.2, P < 0.05) while the number of necrotic segments were similar in both groups during the follow-up. There were no significant difference in survival between two groups during 2 years follow-up (95.4% vs. 94.9%, P > 0.05) but the annual hospitalization days of BM-MNCs group was significantly lower than that of saline group [(23.6 +/- 13.4) d vs. (33.0 +/- 14.0) d, P > 0.05].

CONCLUSIONSIntracoronary transplantation of autologous BM-MNCs was safe and could increase LVEF and the six-minute-walk distance and reduce hospitalization days for patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.