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Updated: Sep 29, 2026

Post-Myocardial Infarction Heart Failure in Closed-chest Coronary Occlusion/Reperfusion Model in Göttingen Minipigs and Landrace Pigs
Published on: April 17, 2021
Effect of nicorandil in patients with heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Fujie Zhao1, Sandip Chaugai, Peng Chen
1Departments of Internal Medicine and Institute of Hypertension, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Background And Purpose:
It is unclear whether nicorandil, a metabolic therapeutic drug, can be applied clinically to therapy of heart failure (HF). This meta-analysis evaluated therapeutic effects of nicorandil on HF patients.
Experimental Approach:
We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies evaluating effect of nicorandil on HF patients. Studies were stratified according to controlled versus uncontrolled designs and analyzed using random-effects meta-analysis models.
Key Results:
We identified a total of 20 studies with a total of 1222 patients. In five randomized controlled studies, nicorandil treatment resulted in reduction in all-cause mortality and hospitalization for cardiac causes (HR: 0.35, P < 0.001) and improved cardiac pump function (SMD: 0.31, P = 0.02). In 15 observational studies, nicorandil therapy increases cardiac pump function (SMD: 0.75, P < 0.001), improves NYHA functional class (WMD: -1.33, P < 0.001), decreases PCWP (WMD: -6.86 mm Hg, P < 0.001), and pulmonary arterial pressure (SMD: -0.84, P < 0.001).
Conclusions And Implications:
The use of nicorandil in HF patients exerts substantial beneficial effects, suggesting that it may be an additional therapeutic agent for HF.
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