Regenerative capacity of the myocardium: implications for treatment of heart failure

Abstract

Research into myocardial regeneration has an exciting future, shown by the results of experimental and clinical work challenging the dogma that the heart is a postmitotic non-regenerating organ. Such studies have initiated a lively debate about the feasibility of novel treatment approaches leading to the recovery of damaged myocardial tissue. The possibility of reconstituting dead myocardium by endogenous cardiomyocyte replication, transplantation, or activation of stem cells--or even cloning of an artificial heart--is being advanced, and will be a major subject of future research. Although health expenditure for heart failure in the industrial world is high, we are still a long way from being able to treat the cause of reduced myocardial contractility. Despite the hopes of some people, conventional treatment for heart failure does not achieve myocardial regeneration. We present a virtual case report of a patient with acute myocardial infarction; we discuss treatment options, including strategies aimed at organ regeneration.