Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are the most well-studied and characterised stem cell types. This review was undertaken of the current available phase II/III randomised clinical trials (RCTs) that delivered BM-MSCs to treat patients with cardiomyopathy, and to assess their performance.

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were followed during the systematic review and meta-analysis. Eligible studies were reviewed, and their data charted. To assess the efficacy of BM-MSCs, the outcome was improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and 6-minute walking distance (6MWD).

The pooled weighted mean difference (WMD) showed that BM-MSCs treatment improved the 6MWD by 27.86 m (95% CI 0.11–55.6 m) compared with the control groups. The pooled WMD showed that BM-MSCs treatment improved the LVEF by 6.37% (95% CI 5.48%–7.26%) compared with the control groups.

BM-MSCs treatment is an effective intervention for managing patients with heart failure, but it requires larger and more robust clinical trials to support its routine use in clinics.