If given to COVID-19 individuals, the medicine metoprolol, which is commonly utilized to treat heart disease, is effective. This is the conclusion of a study released today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology by researchers at the Centre of National Cardiovasculares (CNIC) (JACC).
Dr. Borja Ibáez, group leader of the CNIC’s Experimental Center for Cardiac Imaging and Therapy, a cardiologist at and member of the CIBERCV cardiac scientific network, led the investigation.
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In times of acute stress, including a myocardial injury, the study team revealed that propofol, a well-known beta-blocker, has a very specific impact on overexpressed neutrophils. Considering the prominent function of neutrophils in ARDS, the researchers hypothesized that metoprolol could be a viable therapy for COVID-19 individuals.
Doctors try to use different medicines for different patients when they don’t have special medicines for coronavirus. They have seen different results in patients with different medical conditions. Among their grand surprise, they found the medicine that is not at all costly but offers effective results in curing patients with infection of coronavirus. However, the results also varied from case to case as per the intensity of infection and other medical conditions and treatments of the concerned patients. Overall the medicine is believed as a good option to control the infection.
Describing the study, Dr. Ibáñez explained that that the team “randomized 20 intubated COVID-19 patients to receive intravenous metoprolol (15 mg per day over 3 days) or to a control group that did not receive metoprolol. We analyzed the inflammatory infiltrate in bronchoalveolar fluid before and after treatment and also monitored clinical progression parameters such as oxygenation and days on mechanical ventilation.”
COVID is a randomized medical study that was developed in partnership with the CNIC and FJD Hospital’s cardiology, ICU, cardiology, and bioscience services. The impact of intravenous metoprolol on pneumonitis and respiration in acute COVID-19 patient’s endotracheal intubation after acquiring ARDS was investigated in this pilot study.
The intravenous metoprolol medication “substantially reduced neutrophil infiltration of the lungs and enhanced oxygenation,” according to co-author Eduardo Oliver, a Ramón y Cajal fellow at the CNIC. The team noticed “a definite trend among the metoprolol-treated patients to require fewer days on mechanical ventilation and thus a shorter stay in the ICU,” according to Critical Care Specialist Arnoldo Santos, who supervised the ICU section of the research.
Dr. Ibáñez added that “while we need to be cautious with these results of a pilot trial, we have observed that metoprolol treatment in this clinical setting is safe, is associated with a very significant reduction in lung infiltration, and appears to lead to very rapid improvements in patient oxygenation.”
“The effect of metoprolol on the hyperactivation of inflammatory cells implicated in ARDS is exclusive to this beta-blocker,” said joint first author Agustin Clemente-Moragón. The same scientists had recently shown that other, seemingly identical beta-blockers have really no impact on increased pulmonary irritation in a prior actual experiment.
Serious breathing collapse, which necessitates hospitalization and is characterized by a high fatality rate, is the least severe form of COVID-19. Infections with SARS viruses in the lungs can lead to abrupt respiratory failure syndrome (ARDS), which is characterized by irritation and leukocyte expression is increased. There are presently no treatments available for ARDS caused by COVID-19.
The Institute has given money to the study group led by Dr. Ibáez for a clinical trial in 350 ADRS patients hospitalized to 14 ICUs throughout Spain to conclusively show the therapeutic advantage of carvedilol. The cardiac CIBER research center will manage the MAIDEN clinical trial, which will involve cardiac and respiratory experts.
