The effect of
acadesine, an
adenosine-regulating agent, on the incidence of
myocardial infarction, all adverse cardiovascular outcomes (
myocardial infarction,
cardiac death,
left ventricular dysfunction, life-threatening
arrhythmia, or
cerebrovascular accident) and mortality was assessed in 821 patients undergoing
coronary artery bypass grafting. Patients were prospectively stratified to a high-risk group (age > 70 years,
unstable angina, previous coronary bypass, unsuccessful angioplasty, or ejection fraction < 30%) or a non-high-risk group. They were randomized in a double-blind manner to placebo (n = 418) or
acadesine (n = 403) by
intravenous infusion over 7 hours (0.1 mg/kg per minute) and in the
cardioplegic solution (placebo or
acadesine; 5 micrograms/ml).
Acadesine did not significantly affect the incidence of
myocardial infarction in the overall study population, but it significantly reduced the incidence of Q-wave
myocardial infarction in high-risk patients (placebo, 19.7%;
acadesine, 10.0%; p = 0.032). The incidences of all adverse cardiovascular outcomes (placebo, 19.4%;
acadesine, 18.4%) and overall mortality (placebo, 3.4%;
acadesine, 2.7%) were similar between the two treatment groups. However,
acadesine reduced the incidence of cardiac related events that contributed to deaths occurring during the first 3 postoperative days so that the incidence of death in this period was lower (placebo, 1.9%;
acadesine, 0.2%; p = 0.038). No adverse events were related to
acadesine treatment. Although overall there were no statistically significant between-group differences for the primary study end points, a secondary analysis in a prospectively defined high-risk subgroup suggests that
acadesine may be beneficial in some patients.