Effect of Pentoxifylline in Ameliorating Myocardial Injury in Patients With Myocardial Infarction Undergoing Thrombolytic Therapy: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.

Cell death following acute myocardial infarction (MI) is the hallmark pathology of cardiovascular disease, leading to considerable mortality and morbidity. Platelet and neutrophil activation and inflammatory cytokines, prominently TNF-α, play an important role in the development of cell death. Because pentoxifylline inhibits platelet and neutrophil activation and reduces TNF-α, this study was performed to assess the potential benefit of pentoxifylline in the reduction of myocardial injury following acute MI. In this randomized clinical trial, 98 patients with acute MI were randomly divided into 2 groups. The intervention group received an oral dose of 1200 mg of pentoxifylline immediately before thrombolytic therapy (TLT). All patients received the same standard protocol for treatment of MI. Cardiac enzymes were checked over 48 hours. ST resolution was measured over 90 minutes. Then all patients were followed up for a 1-month period to assess major adverse cardiac effects (MACEs). There were no significant differences in peak levels of CPK (P = .18) and CK-MB (P = .33) between the 2 groups, whereas peak level of troponin I was significantly lower in the pentoxifylline group (16.8 ± 10.4 vs 21.3 ± 11.6; P = .048). No significant change between the groups was observed in biomarkers levels, ST segment resolution, cardiac ejection fraction, and MACEs. The results showed that pentoxifylline significantly reduced the peak value of troponin I in patients with acute MI receiving TLT. No significant change was observed in the other studied parameters. Further outcome-based studies are needed to show the clinical relevance of differences between the groups in troponin peak.