Protective effect of allopurinal on myocardial reperfusion injury

This study is to evaluate the myocardial protective effect of allopurinol. Forty consecutive patients undergoing open heart surgery were randomly divided into two groups of 20 patients each. Patients in the control group received no allopurinal; those in the other group received allopurinol at a dose of 20 mg kg -1 day -1 for three days preoperatively. Before and after 30 min of aortic crossclamping, and after 15 min of reperfusion, myocardium were sampled to detect its oxygen free radical (OFR) signals, calcium contents, and ultrastructure; serum cardiac isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB) were also measured. OFR signals in the allopurinol group were significantly lower than that in the control during reperfusion period (P<0.01); myocardial calcium contents, CK-MB showed similar changes (P<0.01). Ultrastructure study confirmed less damage in the allopurinol group. It was concluded that allopurinol has myocardial protective effect on cardiac reperfusion injury in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.