By Stephen Levin
Whenever the subject of future technologies for treating cardiovascular disease comes up, both industry executives and clinicians agree that emerging approaches such as tissue engineering, gene therapy and stem cell and other forms of cell therapy hold tremendous promise. Perhaps the most compelling application of these therapies relates to the regeneration of heart tissue lost as a result of myocardial infarctions (MI), especially since heart muscle cell damage can trigger the cascade of events leading to congestive heart failure (CHF)