Lack of effect of coenzyme Q on left ventricular function in patients with congestive heart failure.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P H Langsjoen.
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The clinical experience in cardiology with CoQ10 includes studies on congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle, and reperfusion injury as it relates to coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The CoQ10-lowering effect of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and the potential adverse consequences are of growing concern. Supplemental CoQ10 alters the natural history of cardiovascular illnesses and has the potential for prevention of cardiovascular disease through the inhibition of LDL cholesterol oxidation and by the maintenance of optimal cellular and mitochondrial function throughout the ravages of time and internal and external stresses. The attainment of higher blood levels of CoQ10 (> 3.5 micrograms/ml) with the use of higher doses of CoQ10 appears to enhance both the magnitude and rate of clinical improvement. In this communication, 34 controlled trials and several open-label and long-term studies on the clinical effects of CoQ10 in cardiovascular diseases are reviewed.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is manifested by severe thickening of the left ventricle with significant diastolic dysfunction. Previous observations on the improvement in diastolic function and left ventricular wall thickness through the therapeutic administration of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) in patients with hypertensive heart disease prompted the investigation of its utility in HCM. Seven patients with HCM, six non-obstructive and one obstructive, were treated with an average of 200 mg/day of CoQ10 with mean treatment whole blood CoQ10 level of 2.9 micrograms/ml. Echocardiograms were obtained in all seven patients at baseline and again 3 or more months post-treatment. All patients noted improvement in symptoms of fatigue and dyspnea with no side effects noted. The mean interventricular septal thickness improved significantly from 1.51 +/- 0.17 cm to 1.14 +/- 0.13 cm, a 24% reduction (P < 0.002). The mean posterior wall thickness improved significantly from 1.37 +/- 0.13 cm to 1.01 +/- 0.15 cm, a 26% reduction (P < 0.005). Mitral valve inflow slope by pulsed wave Doppler (EF slope) showed a non-significant trend towards improvement, 1.55 +/- 0.49 m/sec2 to 2.58 +/- 1.18 m/sec2 (P < 0.08). The one patient with subaortic obstruction showed an improvement in resting pressure gradient after CoQ10 treatment (70 mmHg to 30 mmHg).
Symptoms of fatigue and activity impairment, atypical precordial pain, and cardiac arrhythmia frequently precede by years the development of congestive heart failure. Of 115 patients with these symptoms, 60 were diagnosed as having hypertensive cardiovascular disease, 27 mitral valve prolapse syndrome, and 28 chronic fatigue syndrome. These symptoms are common with diastolic dysfunction, and diastolic function is energy dependent. All patients had blood pressure, clinical status, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) blood levels and echocardiographic measurement of diastolic function, systolic function, and myocardial thickness recorded before and after CoQ10 replacement. At control, 63 patients were functional class III and 54 class II; all showed diastolic dysfunction; the mean CoQ10 blood level was 0.855 micrograms/ml; 65%, 15%, and 7% showed significant myocardial hypertrophy, and 87%, 30%, and 11% had elevated blood pressure readings in hypertensive disease, mitral valve prolapse and chronic fatigue syndrome respectively. Except for higher blood pressure levels and more myocardial thickening in the hypertensive patients, there was little difference between the three groups. CoQ10 administration resulted in improvement in all; reduction in high blood pressure in 80%, and improvement in diastolic function in all patients with follow-up echocardiograms to date; a reduction in myocardial thickness in 53% of hypertensives and 36% of the combined prolapse and fatigue syndrome groups; and a reduced fractional shortening in those high at control and an increase in those initially low.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Twenty years of international open and seven double blind trials established the efficacy and safety of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) to treat patients in heart failure. In the U.S., ca. 20,000 patients under 65 years are eligible for transplants, but donors are less than 1/10th of those eligible, and there are many more such patients over 65, both eligible and ineligible. We treated eleven exemplary transplant candidates with CoQ10; all improved; three improved from Class IV to Class I; four improved from Classes III-IV to Class II; and two improved from Class III to Class I or II. After CoQ10, some patients required no conventional drugs and had no limitation in lifestyle. The marked improvement is based upon correcting myocardial deficiencies of CoQ10 which improve mitochondrial bioenergetics and cardiac performance. These case histories, and very substantial background proof of efficacy and safety, justify treating with CoQ10 patients in failure awaiting transplantation.
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During 1982-86, 43/137 patients with cardiomyopathy, Classes II, III and IV, had ejection fractions (EF) below 40%, and a mean EF of 25.1 +/- 10.3%. During treatment of these 43 patients with coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), EF increased to 41.6 +/- 14.3% (p less than 0.001) over a mean period of 3 months (range, 2-4 months). At four subsequent periods up to 36 months. EF ranged from 43.1 +/- 13.3 to 49.7 +/- 6.4% (each period, p less than 0.001). The mean CoQ10 control blood level was 0.85 +/- 0.26 micrograms/ml which increased on treatment to 1.7 to 2.3 micrograms/ml for five periods up to 36 months (each period, p less than 0.001). The survival rates for all 137 patients treated with CoQ10 and for the 43 patients with EF below 40% were both about 75%/46 months. These two survival rates were comparable between 24 and 46 months, which is of extraordinary significance and importance when compared to survival of about 25%/36 months for 182 patients with EF below 46% on conventional therapy without CoQ10. The improved cardiac function and pronounced increase of survival show that therapy with CoQ10 is remarkably beneficial due to correction of CoQ10 deficiency in mechanisms of bioenergetics.
One hundred and forty-three cases of chronic, stable, non-secondary, non-hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 98% of whom were in NYHA Classes III and IV, were given 100 mg of coenzyme Q10 orally in addition to their conventional medical programme in an open-label long-term study. Blood CoQ10 levels, clinical status, myocardial function and survival have been recorded now for almost 6 years. Mean control/CoQ10 levels of 0.85 micrograms/ml rose to 2 micrograms/ml in 3 months and remained stable at that level. Mean ejection fraction of 44% measured by systolic time interval analysis rose to 60% within 6 months and stabilized at that level with 84% of patients showing statistically significant improvement. Eighty-five percent of patients improved by one or two NYHA Classes. Survival figures were encouraging with an 11.1% mortality in 12 months and 17.8% mortality in 24 months, comparing favourably with several reports in the literature. There was no positive evidence of toxicity or intolerance in a total of 368.9 patient-years of exposure. Coenzyme Q10 is safe and effective long-term therapy for chronic cardiomyopathy.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is indispensable in mitochondrial bioenergetics and for human life to exist. 88/115 patients completed a trial of therapy with CoQ10 for cardiomyopathy. Patients were selected on the basis of clinical criteria, X-rays, electrocardiograms, echocardiography, and coronary angiography. Responses were monitored by ejection fractions, cardiac output, and improvements in functional classifications (NYHA). Of the 88 patients 75%-85% showed statistically significant increases in two monitored cardiac parameters. Patients with the lowest ejection fractions (approx. 10%-30%) showed the highest increases (115 delta %-210 delta %) and those with higher ejection fractions (50%-80%) showed increases of approx. 10 delta %-25 delta % on therapy. By functional classification, 17/21 in class IV, 52/62 in class III, and 4/5 in class II improved to lower classes. Clinical responses appeared over variable times, and are presumably based on mechanisms of DNA-RNA-protein synthesis of apoenzymes which restore levels of CoQ10 enzymes in a deficiency state. 10/21 (48%) of patients in class IV, 26/62 (42%) in class III, and 2/5 (40%) in class II had exceptionally low control blood levels of CoQ10. Clinical responses on therapy with CoQ10 appear maximal with blood levels of approx. 2.5 micrograms CoQ10/ml and higher during therapy.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a biochemically established redox component of respiration including the coupled mechanisms of electron transfer and oxidative phosphorylation, is naturally present in the human myocardium. A double-blind and double-crossover trial has been conducted by administering CoQ10 and a matching placebo orally to two groups of patients having class III or IV cardiomyopathy (classification according to criteria of the New York Heart Association). Group A received CoQ10 and then placebo; group B received placebo and then CoQ10. Blood levels of CoQ10 and cardiac function were determined at 0 and 4 weeks (control stabilization period) and at 16 and 28 weeks (after the 12-week CoQ/placebo-treatment periods). For group A, significant increases in CoQ10 blood levels and cardiac function occurred during CoQ10 treatment and then decreased during crossover to placebo. For group B, there was no change in CoQ10 blood levels and cardiac function during placebo treatment, but increases in both parameters occurred in crossover to CoQ10. These patients, steadily worsening and expected to die within 2 years under conventional therapy, generally showed an extraordinary clinical improvement, indicating that CoQ10 therapy might extend the lives of such patients. This improvement could be due to correction of a myocardial deficiency of CoQ10 and to enhanced synthesis of CoQ10-requiring enzymes.
Nineteen patients with chronic myocardial disease (NYHA Classes III and IV) were given Coenzyme Q10 in a controlled double-blind cross-over study. All had either low or borderline levels of CoQ10 in their blood, and showed a significant change into the normal range with oral CoQ10 replacement. Eighteen patients reported improvement in activity tolerance with replacement therapy. Combined clinical observations, stroke volume measured by impedance cardiography, and ejection fractions calculated from systolic time intervals, all showed significant improvement in parallel with CoQ10 administration. This application of the principles of bioenergetics introduces a promising new dimension to the study and treatment of the complex problem of myocardial failure.
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