Biomaterials and Stem Cells for Myocardial Repair

Cardiovascular diseases account for 12 million deaths annually worldwide. Myocardial infarction (MI) continues to be a significant problem in industrialized countries and is becoming an increasingly significant problem in developing countries. MI is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Approximately 1.3 million clinical cases of nonfatal MI—an annual incidence rate of approximately 600 cases per 100,000 people—have been reported per year (Fenton 2007). The rapid development of myocardial necrosis, due to a critical imbalance between oxygen supply and the demand of the myocardium, is one of the pathological factors leading to MI. An MI potentially results from plaque rupture with thrombus formation in a coronary artery, resulting in an acute reduction of blood supply to a portion of the myocardium (Alpert et al. 2000). Approximately CONTENTS