L-carnitine as an adjunct therapy to percutaneous coronary intervention for non-ST elevation myocardial infarction.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of L: -carnitine as an adjunct therapy to percutanenous coronary intervention (PCI) for non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEMI).


METHODS
Ninety-six consecutive patients with NSTEMI were randomized into treatment group (L: -carnitine 5 g IV bolus followed by 10 g/day IV infusion for 3 days), and control group. All patients also underwent PCI within 24 h from the onset of chest pain. The peak values of creatine kinase-MB and troponin-I before and after PCI were observed.


RESULTS
In the treatment group, the peak values of creatine kinase-MB were significantly lower than the control group at 12 h and 24 h after PCI (P < 0.01). The peak values of troponin-I in the treatment group were also lower than the control group at 8 h after PCI (P < 0.01). Multivariate regression analysis showed that L: -carnitine therapy was an independent predictor for the reduction of creatine kinase-MB (r = 0.596, P < 0.001) or troponin-I (r = 0.633, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
L: -carnitine adjunct therapy appears to be associated with a reduced level of cardiac markers in patients with NSTEMI. These results support a larger clinical trial to investigate the effect of L: -carnitine on cardiac events following PCI.
Xue
Yu-Zeng
YZ
Department of Cardiology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.
Wang
Le-Xin
LX
Liu
Hua-Zhi
HZ
Qi
Xue-Wen
XW
Wang
Xiao-Hua
XH
Ren
Hai-Zhou
HZ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary; D002331:Carnitine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form / Q000097:blood; D004562:Electrocardiography; D023381:Endpoint Determination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood
D019210:Troponin I; D052279:Creatine Kinase, MB Form; D002331:Carnitine