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Abstract: Objective: The therapeutic effects of bone marrow‐derived mononuclear cells (BMMNCs) transplantation in patients with nonischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are still under debate. Current randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reported conflicting results. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of BMMNCs transplantation on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in patients with nonischaemic DCM. Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register was performed. We included RCTs reporting data on LVEF in patients with nonischaemic DCM after BMMNCs transplantation. Results: Seven RCTs including 463 patients were included. BMMNCs transplantation significantly improved LVEF by 3.79% (95% CI: 0.56%‐7.03%; P = .007) and LVESV by −24.36 mL (95% CI: −46.36 to −2.36 mL; P = .03), while had no impact on the risk of all‐cause death (OR 0.92; 95% CI: 0.41 to 2.08%; P = .84). Subgroup analysis demonstrated a more significant improvement of LVEF in patients with longer follow‐up (~15 months to 5 years) than shorter ones (12 months). Moreover, using bone marrow mononuclear cells was more effective than using G‐CSF‐stimulated bone marrow/peripheral blood stem cells in the improvement of LVEF in patients with nonischaemic DCM. Conclusions: Bone marrow‐derived mononuclear cells transplantation is associated with a moderate, but significant, improvement in LVEF in patients with nonischaemic DCM. This meta‐analysis supports further RCT conductions using BMMNCs transplantation with larger patient's population and longer term follow‐up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We sought to perform a meta-analysis to evaluate the potential influence of high-dose erythropoietin (EPO) on cardiac function parameters in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods and Results: By searching PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library (up to December 2012), seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) reporting cardiac functional parameters with a total of 1,250 acute STEMI patients were identified. When applied to patients with acute STEMI, high-dose EPO was relatively safe and no increase in all-caused death and severe adverse effects were indicated. Estimates were pooled from fixed or random effects models. Compared with controls, high-dose EPO resulted in a slight but significant improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction of 1.02 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.17–1.88, P = 0.019, I2 = 0 %] and an improvement in left ventricular end-systolic volume of −4.61 ml (95 % CI −7.64 to −1.58, P = 0.003, I2 = 27.7 %). Conclusions: Available evidence suggested that high-dose EPO has limited cardio-protective effects in patients with STEMI. However, considering the relatively short follow-up durations and small patient populations in the current RCTs, the effects of high-dose EPO on clinical outcomes in patients with STEMI need to be evaluated in larger prospective RCTs of longer duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]