Clinical Trials, U.S.: Heart Disease

Heart disease is consistently the leading cause of mortality in the United States. A range of pathologies can lead to heart disease, including chronic ischemia, hypertension, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), endocarditis, and congenital malformations; however, few standard treatments aside from cardiac transplantation address the fundamental loss of functional cardiomyocytes that occurs in many cases of heart disease.

Over the past 20 years, stem cell (SC) studies have gained significant attention due to their potential to generate functional cardiomyocytes. Although SC treatments for heart disease in the United States are currently only approved within clinical trials, Phase I/II results suggest that some SC treatments can help prevent, and even reverse, disease progression for clinically significant outcomes. In this review, clinical trials are organized by stem cell type; ...