Division of Cardiology, Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, 736 Cambridge St., Boston, MA 02135, USA.
The success of therapies targeting acute myocardial ischemia and the aging of the population due to improved general medical care has resulted in an increasing population of patients with chronic myocardial ischemia and congestive heart failure who remain symptomatic despite having exhausted the currently available therapeutic options. In this chapter we review the scientific underpinnings of autologous bone marrow-derived cell therapy and the early clinical experience that has fuelled interest in this approach.