Clinical trials in the surgical management of congestive heart failure: Surgical ventricular restoration and autologous skeletal myoblast and stem cell cardiomyoplasty

Despite continued advances in medical and surgical approaches for patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure (CHF) remains a growing cause of morbidity and mortality. Historically, surgical options for end-stage CHF have been limited. However, there are several surgical therapies now under clinical investigation that appear promising in the effort to reverse or restore the remodeled left ventricle. This review will focus on early but current clinical studies examining surgical ventricular restoration and autologous skeletal myoblast and stem cell transplantation. Although these emerging therapeutic options remain in the early stages of study and development, they hold promise in providing options to those patients with end-stage CHF.