Doctors are excited about this new discovery. It holds the promise of a much improved prognosis for those who have experienced heart attacks. The best part is that it seems to be just as successful using stem cells from unrelated donors. Also the possibility exists to take donations and store them until needed. This could become another donor factor for those who chose to be donors upon their own deaths.
I am personally surprised at how quickly we are seeing results once this research has started receiving federal funding. There are still so very many frontiers to be explored using this technology. Everything from neurological diseases such as ALS, MS, and Parkinson's Disease to spinal injuries could become far less damaging or even potentially cureable using stem cells.
A very nice thing is that the initial furor over the initial use of fetal stem cells has almost been rendered moot. As more and more research is done scientists are discovering how to use adult stem cells not only from the patient's own body but, as in this case, from unrelated donors.
While fetal stem cells probably still have the most potential there is far less of a need for huge numbers of these cells as once thought. Also such cells can now be harvested from the umbilical cord, the placenta, and from the blood from the umbilical cord. There is no longer the need to sacrifice an embryo to retrieve them.