"The story reports that harvesting enough stem cells for infusion is difficult and costly, though it fails to cite specific costs. For research in Phase I, any comment on cost might be purely speculative. Since the study is designed to prove safety, there are no credible benefits data to report. The report does allow sources to make general claims of benefit based on that preliminary data, but the reporter shows restraint by not plucking benefits data points from the study. On a close call, the story earns a satisfactory rating. While the story briefly mentions the potential for rejection, it fails otherwise to specify the potential side effects of the stem cell harvesting or infusion. This is surprising, given the fact that the Phase I trial is designed to prove safety. The story makes plain that the evidence from the published study can only prove safety, not efficacy. It does a good job educating readers about the three phases of FDA trials and what each is designed to establish. The story does nothing to exaggerate the prevalence or severity of the damage to the heart muscle by heart attacks. The story uses two sources: One stem cell expert who is not involved with the research, and the lead author of the published paper. While that’s thin sourcing for a story of this length, it’s sufficient to earn a satisfactory rating. The story compares this process, which involves infusing the patient with a donor’s bone marrow stem cells, with both use of the patient’s own stem cells and with surgical introduction of the cells. The story does not specify conventional treatments for heart failure, which would have provided useful context. Still, the story earns a satsifactory rating. Most of the story makes it clear that the technique is in early trials and not in clinical use. Only the opening line is troubling – ""If you’ve just had your first heart attack, doctors may one day be able to reverse the damage done with stem cell therapy."" Due to clumsy wording,  this suggests that if you had your first  heart attack in late 2009, doctors may someday be able to reverse today’s damage from it – which is not  at all the case. But this misstep is remedied by a later statement that it would take a best-case scenario to have such an approach approved even in five years. The story does not make false claims for the procedure’s novelty. See he criterion – ""Compare the new approach with existing alternatives"" – below. There’s no evidence that the story relied on a news release."
Stem cell therapies for hearts inching closer to wide use