Background Short-term (within 6 weeks follow-up) clinical studies indicate that implantation of bone marrow cells (BMCs) into ischemic limbs may improve peripheral ischemia. Here, the long-term safety and feasibility of intraarterial autologous BMCs with oral treatment with antioxidants and L-arginine were investigated in patients with critical ischemia on account of advanced atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Methods Eighteen patients with PAD (advanced III/IV Fontaine stages) were enrolled in this study (NCT00306085). An additional group of 18 patients taking maximal drug therapy that refused BMC therapy served as control. The BMC-treated group received two doses of BMCs in the leg arteries (time 0 and 45 days). After 30 days from the first BMC dose, patients received daily antioxidants, and l-arginine. Therapeutic neoangiogenesis was estimated by …