What Is the Status of Regenerative Therapy in Heart Failure?

Heart failure remains a major public health concern with high burden of morbidity and mortality despite advances in pharmacotherapy, device therapy, and surgical and percutaneous techniques. Cardiac regeneration may have a role to play in these patients with a huge unmet need for these therapies in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease, post-infarct heart failure, dilated cardiomyopathy, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

In this review, we focus on the pre-clinical and translational basis for different modes of cardiac regenerative medicine and then critically appraise the clinical evidence amassed from pivotal clinical trials focused on cardiac regeneration for ischemic and non-ischemic cardiomyopathies. Cardiac regenerative medicine is rapidly evolving with novel approaches involving cell-based, cell-free, tissue engineering, and hybrid therapies to achieve myocardial regeneration and repair. Further studies are warranted with a robust comparison arm with optimal contemporary medical therapy to translate regenerative therapies to a clinical reality.