Effects of methylprednisolone on the ischemic damage in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Abstract

In this double-blind randomized study, 19 patients with acute transmural myocardial infarction were treated with methylprednisolone administered 4.4 +/- 0.7 hours (+/- SEM) after the onset of chest pain, and were compared with 21 patients who received placebo 4.5 +/- 0.4 hours after the start of clinical symptoms. The two groups were comparable in reference to sex, prevalence of risk factors, clinical status on admission, location of myocardial infarction and magnitude of ischemic injury as assessed by standard ECGs and precordial ST-segment and QRS maps. The treated patients, however, were older than the patients who received placebo. Methylprednisolone in an i.v. dose of 2.0 g was administered on admission and a similar dose was infused 3 hours later. Placebo administration followed an identical schedule. Mortality, cardiac rupture, incidence of ventricular arrhythmias, blocks, extension of myocardial infarction, pericarditis, postinfarction chest pain, persistent ST-segment elevation at discharge, and change in Killip class during hospitalization were the same in both groups. Peak enzyme values, and changes in ECG variables pertaining to resolution of ST-segment elevation or development of QRS evolutionary alterations were similar in both groups. Follow-up for 6 months did not reveal any differences in the clinical course of the two groups. Methylprednisolone infused in a total dose of 4.0 g within 12 hours after the onset of chest pain in patients with acute transmural myocardial infarction does not result in any demonstrable beneficial or harmful effects.