January 3, 2006JAMA
L-Arginine Therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction
Why the study?
Does the addition of L-arginine to standard postinfarction therapy improve ejection fraction and reduce vascular stiffness in patients following acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction?
Population
153 patients following a first ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, mean age 60, 68% male. Includes a…
Comparison
L-arginine added to standard postinfarction… vs Matching placebo added to standard…
Design
RCT, randomly assigned, double-blind, placebo-controlled
Follow-up
6 months
Authors
Discussion
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Implication
L-arginine should not be recommended post-STEMI; challenges prior hypotheses of benefit from supplementation.
Structured PICO
Does the addition of L-arginine to standard postinfarction therapy improve ejection fraction and reduce vascular stiffness in patients following acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction?
P
Population
153 patients following a first ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, mean age 60, 68% male. Includes a subgroup of 77 patients who were 60 years or older.
I
Intervention
L-arginine (goal dose of 3 g 3 times a day) added to standard postinfarction therapy for 6 months
C
Comparator
Matching placebo added to standard postinfarction therapy for 6 months
O
Outcome
Change in gated blood pool-derived ejection fraction over 6 months in patients 60 years or oldersurrogate
L-arginine supplementation after a first STEMI does not improve ejection fraction or vascular stiffness and is associated with increased mortality, indicating it should not be recommended.
Cite This Study
Schulman et al. (2006) studied this question.