Autologous bone marrow transplantation for angiogenesis in critical limb ischemia and diabetic foot

Objective: About 1/3 of limbs with critical limb ischemia (CLI) may not be candidates for percutaneous or surgical revascularisation. Amputation rates in these patients (pts) are high, and mortality approaches 25%. Because autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMNC) are a potent source of angiogenetic cyto- and chemokines and contain endothelial progenitor cells, BMNC-induced angiogenesis theoretically has advantages over angiogenic gene therapy or single growth factor transfer. We tested if autologous BMNC transplantation (aBMT) is useful for limb salvage in CLI. Methods: In 15 pts with CLI (8 with diabetic…