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Published on: September 20, 2019
Custodiol-N versus Custodiol: a prospective randomized double-blind multicentre phase III trial in patients
Gábor Szabó1,2, Paige Brlecic1, Sivakkanan Loganathan1,2
1Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Insights
Custodiol-N, a novel cardioplegic solution, demonstrated safety and comparable cardiac protection to Custodiol in a first-in-human study. It showed a significant reduction in peak creatine kinase-MB, suggesting potential benefits for ischemia/reperfusion injury during coronary artery bypass surgery.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Organ Preservation
Background:
- Custodiol (HTK-Solution) is a standard cardioplegic agent.
- Oxidative injury and endothelial dysfunction can impact cardiac outcomes post-surgery.
- Custodiol-N is a novel HTK-based solution incorporating iron chelators and L-arginine.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the safety and cardiac tissue protection of Custodiol-N compared to Custodiol.
- To assess Custodiol-N's efficacy in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).
Main Methods:
- Prospective, randomized, double-blind, non-inferiority trial.
- Primary endpoint: Area Under the Curve (AUC) of creatine kinase-muscle-brain (CK-MB) within 24 hours post-surgery.
- Secondary endpoints included troponin-T levels, cardiac index, and clinical outcomes.
Main Results:
- The trial was terminated early after 101 patients as the non-inferiority endpoint was met.
- CK-MB AUC and troponin-T AUC were similar between Custodiol and Custodiol-N groups.
- Peak CK-MB levels were significantly lower in the Custodiol-N group, indicating potential superiority.
Conclusions:
- Custodiol-N is safe and offers comparable cardiac protection to the established Custodiol solution.
- Reduced peak CK-MB levels suggest Custodiol-N may mitigate ischemia/reperfusion injury in CABG patients.
Objectives:
HTK-Solution (Custodiol) is a well-established cardioplegic and organ preservation solution. We currently developed a novel HTK-based solution, Custodiol-N, which includes iron chelators to reduce oxidative injury, as well as l-arginine, to improve endothelial function. In this first-in-human study, Custodiol-N was compared to Custodiol in patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass surgery. The aim of this comparison was to evaluate the safety and ability of Custodiol-N to protect cardiac tissue.
Methods:
The study was designed as a prospective randomized double-blind non-inferiority trial. Primary end point was area under the curve (AUC) of creatine kinase muscle-brain (CK-MB) within the first 24 h after surgery. Secondary end points included peak CK-MB and troponin-T and AUC of troponin-T release, cardiac index, cumulative catecholamine dose, intensive care unit stay and mortality. All values in the abstract are given as mean ± SD, P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
Early termination of the trial was performed per protocol as the primary non-inferiority end-point was reached after inclusion of 101 patients. CK-MB AUC (878±549 vs 779±439 h U/l, non-inferiority P < 0.001, Custodiol vs Custodiol-N) and troponin-T AUC (12990±8347 vs 13498±6513 h pg/ml, noninferiority P < 0.001, Custodiol vs Custodiol-N) were similar in both groups. Although the trial was designed for non-inferiority, peak CK-MB (52±40 vs 42±28 U/l, superiority P < 0.03, Custodiol vs Custodiol-N) was significantly lower in the Custodiol-N group.
Conclusions:
This study shows that Custodiol-N is safe and provides similar cardiac protection as the established HTK-Custodiol solution. Significantly reduced peak CK-MB levels in the Custodiol-N group in the full analysis set may implicate a beneficial effect on ischaemia/reperfusion injury in the setting of coronary bypass surgery.
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Clinical Trials: Overview
Blinding
Crossover Experiments
Crossover designs are performed even with smaller sample sizes since the samples can act as their controls. These are better than simple randomized trials since patients are exposed to all the treatments.

