The selection criteria for bone marrow stem cell (BMSC) therapy are not well
established for ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. This investigation
seeks to utilize total ischemic time (TIT), time of symptom onset to percutaneous coronary intervention
(PCI), as a criterion for giving BMSC to STEMI patients. A meta-analysis and metaregression were conducted to
evaluate improvement of LVEF with BMSC and its association with TIT (<6 and ≥6 hours) and
baseline LVEF (<45% and ≥45%) at short (3–6 months) and long term (>6 months) followup. At short term, BMSC allowed improvement of LVEF with prolonged TIT (6.62%, 95% CI, 2.26 to 10.98 for <45%; 6.13%, 95% CI, 2.59 to 9.67 for ≥45%). Similarly, for long term, receiving BMSC allowed significant improvement of LVEF for prolonged TIT (9.19%, 95% CI, 2.34 to 16.05 for <45%; 7.64%, 95% CI, 3.72 to 11.56 for ≥45%). Additionally, TIT was a significant predictor of LVEF improvement independent of baseline LVEF in both short (4.96%, 95% CI, 0.72 to 9.19, P=0.02) and long term (6.24%, 95% CI, 0.46 to 12.02, P=0.03) followup. Consequently, BMSC therapy allows LVEF improvement in prolonged TIT and future studies for BMSC should include TIT ≥ 6 hours as an inclusion criterion.