Regenerative therapies in electrophysiology and pacing.
The prevention and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias conferring major morbidity and mortality is far from optimal, and relies heavily on devices and drugs for the partial successes that have been seen. The greatest success has been in the use of electronic pacemakers to drive the hearts of patients having high degree heart block. Recent years have seen the beginnings of attempts to use novel approaches available through gene and cell therapies to treat both brady- and tachyarrhythmias. By far the most successful approaches to date have been seen in the development of biological pacemakers. However, the far more difficult problems posed by atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia are now being addressed. In the following pages we review the approaches now in progress as well as the specific methodologic demands that must be met if these therapies are to be successful.
Rosen
Michael R
MR
Department of Pediatrics, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. mrr1@columbia.edu
Brink
Peter R
PR
Cohen
Ira S
IS
Danilo
Peter
P
Robinson
Richard B
RB
Rosen
Amy B
AB
Szabolcs
Matthias J
MJ
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000628:therapy*; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial / Q000379:methods; D064987:Cell- and Tissue-Based Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D022062:Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac / Q000379:methods; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans