Cardiac catheterization device for the delivery of human mesenchymal stem cells

Myocardial infarctions are the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Current treatment techniques return blood flow to the infarcted tissue, but do not replace the dead cells with contractile cells. Research pertaining to human mesenchymal stem cells has shown promise in the ability to regrow and proliferate cardiac myocytes. Biological microthreads have been shown to efficiently deliver cells to the heart. However, a minimally invasive device to deliver cell seeded biological threads is needed to move the technology into the clinic. Therefore, we developed a cardiac catheterization device to deliver microthreads seeded with human mesenchymal stem cells to the left ventricular wall.