ST. LOUIS—Acute myocardial infarction causes thousands of fatalities each year. What if there was a way to use stem-cell regeneration to prevent the devastating after-effects of a heart attack? According to researchers presenting a Japanese study at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2014 Annual Meeting, this therapy exists and could potentially prevent dangerous cardiac tissue damage.

The treatment involves the administration of a protein called granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), which acts upon bone marrow stem cells that naturally protect heart attack patients from suffering excessive, long-term tissue destruction and reduced cardiac function. The results of the study showed that benefits of G-CSF only increased the more quickly treatment was given after an attack—especially earlier than 37 hours afterward. The improvement was clearly seen by SPECT scan.

Toyama explained: “In our study, we started the intravenous drip infusion of G-CSF during primary [cardiac intervention] just after hospitalization. It’s novel. We used I-123 BMIPP imaging for fatty acid metabolism and Tc-99m MIBI imaging for myocardial perfusion and cardiac function. Those parameters were very beneficial to find the improvement after G-CSF treatment.”

For this study, researchers imaged a total of 40 patients who were administered either treatment with G-CSF or saline control starting at the time of cardiac intervention and continuing for a total of five days. A year of follow up stress SPECT gauged the effects of treatment, including rates of revascularization and restenosis and further cardiac events. Findings of the study revealed that earlier initiation of G-CSF therapy after acute myocardial infarction improves cardiac function, fatty acid metabolism and blood flow.

If further study validates this data, a stem-cell therapy for victims of heart attack could be on the horizon. “This research will be available for patients [of acute heart attack] in the future after a multicenter trial with a large number of patients is performed,” noted Toyama.