A stem cell treatment for heart attack patients has shown some promise but a high complication rate, say scientists. Researchers from Seoul National University Hospital, Korea, stopped recruiting patients for their study after seeing the early results. They said the treatment did appear to improve how the heart functioned, and to help new blood vessels develop. But writing in The Lancet, they said much more research was required into the complications they had seen. Most stem cells are found in the bone marrow, but this treatment uses stem cells called peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) which are found in a patient’s bloodstream. A chemical called G-CSF can also be used to boost production of the stem cells.
