When stressed by ageing or disease, the adult human heart is unable to regenerate, leading to scarring and hypertrophy and eventually heart failure. As a result, stem cell therapy has been proposed as an ultimate therapeutic strategy, as stem cells could limit adverse remodelling and give rise to new cardiomyocytes and vasculature. Unfortunately, the results from clinical trials to date have been largely disappointing. In this review, we discuss the current status of the field and describe various limitations and how future work may attempt to resolve these to make way to successful clinical translation.

A newly qualified doctor's personal view, exploring how a struggling health service and changing medical education may impact the future role of the medical student. Medical curriculums and the health service might benefit from medical students taking an expanded role in error prevention, public health promotion and clinical responsibilities.

No abstract