Intervention for Cardiac Repair: A Clinical Perspective

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Damage to the heart resulting from cardiovascular disease leads to gradual loss of function and reduced quality of life. Cardiac injury is particularly debilitating, more so than injury to any other organ, given our current inability to either generate new and functional cardiac tissue or to mimic the actions of the heart using external devices. Advances in the field of stem cells and genetics have paved the way for the development of a variety of novel therapies. A number of these therapies have shown great promise in regenerating cardiac tissue in non-human disease models and some have progressed towards clinical trials. Given the rapid progress and emergence of novel targets for therapy, it is perhaps timely that we assess the practicality of these techniques and their potential for translation to bedside. Hence, this review aims to outline the major therapies in development and to provide insight into the feasibility of the respective techniques with the hope that research can be steered towards developing therapies with greater potential of being employed at the bedside.

Keywords: Ischemic heart disease; cellular based intervention; molecular intervention; reprogramming; scaffold; tissue engineering.