Provided herein are methods for treating an individual having (suffering from) an acute myocardial infarction and drug eluting stents useful for treating such individuals. These methods include treating an individual by introducing, such as by surgically inserting, at a site of an acute coronary artery occlusion upstream of the site of acute myocardial infarction, a drug eluting stent (DES) that is capable of eluting from 25 pg to 950 pg of IGF-1 directly into the coronary circulation. The treatment is specifically directed to stimulation of repair or survival of damaged cardiac muscle or left ventricular remodeling.
