Background: Cardiac muscle possesses a limited capacity to regenerate its tissue on its own. It is less likely to reverse the altered cardiac functioning to its normal physiological state after a major myocardial infarction. Stem cell transplantation provided a unique therapeutic approach in managing such injuries. There has been a substantial debate about the complexity, scope and medical application of stem cell transplantation in past few years. Materials and Methods: An extensive review of medical literature was conducted to establish the consensus about the possible mechanism of cell renewal, associated complications and risks of failure of this technique. Twenty cases of mammalian animals and twenty-four cases of stem cell transplantation in human subjects were reviewed. Results: Most common associated complication was re-stenosis of coronary artery. Few clinical trials reported the failure in improving cardiac functioning. The success rate of stem cell transplantation was remarkable in the literature related to experimental animal subjects. Conclusion: It was concluded that renewal of the cardiac cell is a result of induction of angiogenesis and prolonged cell survival. This topic still requires an immense amount of research to fill the gap in adequate knowledge.
Keywords: Cardiomyocytes; Hematopoietic stem cells; Mesenchymal stem cells; Myocardial infarction.