“The Regional Hospital Company ‘San Carlo’ of Potenza made an important contribution to the ‘Protection trial’, an international study which identified the first therapy capable of preventing acute renal failure (ARF) in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass”.
The General Director of the hospital announces this with satisfaction Giuseppe Spera underlining how “this is one innovative and revolutionary discovery to which all the staff of the complex Cardioanesthesia operating unit of the ‘San Carlo’, directed by Dr Giuseppe Pittellaparticipated with great ability and enthusiasm.”
Among the principal investigators is Dr Gianluca Paternostercardiac anesthetist at the Potenza hospital, who clarifies “how intravenous administration of amino acids can reduce the incidence of post-operative acute renal failure; it is the first time that the effectiveness of a therapy has been demonstrated in reducing the risk of a complication that has a great impact on survival”.
The study coordinated by the professors Giovanni Landoni And Alberto Zangrillo of the “San Raffaele” hospital in Milan, in collaboration with other Italian and foreign centers, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Researchers analyzed more than 3,500 adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, dividing them into two groups. The first group of 1,759 patients was administered intravenous amino acid therapy, while the remaining 1,752 were administered placebo. AKI occurred in 474 patients in the group who received the drug (26.9%) compared to 555 patients in the group who received the placebo (31.7%), recording a significant reduction in the occurrence of this dangerous complication.
This is the first step towards new therapeutic strategies that could lead to wider uses of this therapy, improving the health of millions of patients every year.
