"The Effect of Trimetazidine on the Clinical Outcome of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients"

August 30, 2025 updated by: Asmaa Tarek Zakaria, Ain Shams University
The investigators need to test the effect of Trimetazidine on the pro-inflammatory marker Interleukin - 18 , NIHSS score, and mRs score of acute ischemic stroke patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Trimetazidine is a well-known anti-anginal drug that exerts its effect by converting the cell's metabolism from fatty acid oxidation to glucose oxidation. This is contrary to what occurs during a stroke event, in which the cell's metabolism is shifted to fatty acid metabolism. It also improves the activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase, the enzyme that allows the entry of pyruvate from the cytosol into the mitochondria for subsequent oxidation in the Krebs cycle. Therefore, attenuating lactic acid production, controlling intracellular acidosis and calcium ion overload, thus conserving valuable ATP stores to meet energy requirements and preventing the occurrence of further ischemia. Clinical reports indicate that trimetazidine restores energy homeostasis and attenuates free radical generation to exhibit benefits in ischemia and angina pectoris.

An increasing number of studies have focused on the effect of Trimetazidine on myocardial I/R injury, and some studies have proposed possible hypotheses. Trimetazidine protects against myocardial I/R injury and is presumed to be related to autophagy, apoptosis, and oxidative stress, which are all pathways in stroke.

An in vitro study proving the role of Trimetazidine in apoptosis found that trimetazidine protected muscle cells against starvation or inflammation-induced atrophy by inhibiting protein degradation and inducing autophagy. It has recently been shown to ameliorate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cardiomyocyte pyroptosis: which plays an important role in the development of muscle atrophy by promoting neutrophil migration to cardiac tissue. It was shown that Trimetazidine mitigated the mRNA expression of pyroptosis-related molecules, including NLRP3, Caspase-1, and GSDMD.25 In another in vitro study, it was found that TMZ reduced the myocardial infarct size and decreased the expression of TLR4, MyD88, phospho-NF-κB p65, and the NLRP3 inflammasome.

Furthermore, a study assessing the effect of TMZ on cerebral I/R injury proved that it reduced infarct volume compared with the vehicle-treated reperfused animals and significantly decreased the percentage of brain swelling in the TMZ-treated groups.

Trimetazidine in a clinical study added to the standard of care with or without interventional and/or surgical reperfusion reduced oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, and major acute cardiovascular events, whereas, in patients with chronic coronary syndrome, TMZ decreased oxidative stress and readmission for ACS and heart failure.

Moreover, there is a recent clinical trial that has proven that Trimetazidine significantly reduced the serum levels of interleukin - 18 in patients with acute viral myocarditis compared to the control group.

This makes it possible to detect the severity of the stroke event by measuring the serum levels of interleukin - 18. It is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, that is encoded by the IL-18 gene in humans. It is likely to be the first line of immune defense for the brain, primarily secreted by macrophage cells and mononuclear cells in humans. It is initially expressed as the inactive precursor pro-IL-18. It is then converted into an active form by proteolytic cleavage, mainly by the cysteine protease caspase-1, which is also known as IL-1B converting enzyme (ICE).

Some researchers have proposed the hypothesis that a pro-inflammatory profile induced by increased IL-18 levels creates a prothrombotic and pro-atherosclerotic environment, which may eventually contribute to stroke in older people. These results are consistent with the results of a meta-analysis study which proved that there is a significant association between IL-18 level and NIHSS scores that makes it a strong tool for reflecting the severity of stroke and for predicting the prognosis.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Cairo, Egypt
        • Ain Shams University Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult patients (≥18 years old) admitted to the stroke unit with a diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke by CT scan after excluding hemorrhagic stroke
  • Patients with an NIHSS score between 5 and 25
  • Within 6 - 12 hours from the initial symptoms presentation.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Thrombolysis-eligible patients
  • Patients already on Trimetazidine for any other indication
  • Patients who are NPO
  • Patients with impaired liver function are defined as INR of 1.5 or higher, elevated AST and ALT more than 3 times the upper normal limit, thrombocytopenia with platelets, 150, 000 in a patient without cirrhosis or preexisting liver disease.
  • Patients with inadequate renal function defined as creatinine clearance of 60 mls/min or less
  • Pregnancy and lactation
  • Contraindications of trimetazidine such as hypersensitivity to TMZ, Parkinson's disease, tremors, restless leg syndrome, or other movement disorders

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Trimetazidine and Standard of care
AIS patients receiving standard of care and Trimetazidine 35mg/12hrs within 12 hours of admission
an anti-ischemic medication.
Other Names:
  • Vastarel Mr, Metacardia Mr
No Intervention: Standard of care only
AIS patients receiving standard of care only.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Serum level of interleukin -18
Time Frame: 7 days
A decrease in the serum level of the pro-inflammatory marker.
7 days
National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale
Time Frame: 7 days
An improvement in the NIHSS score Minimum: 1 Maximum: 42
7 days
The Modified Rankin Score
Time Frame: 90 days
An improvement in the mRs score Minimum: 0 Maximum: 6
90 days
Adverse Effects
Time Frame: Till we reach out sample size: 60 patients (assessed within 1 year)
Any adverse effect that appeared on the patients.
Till we reach out sample size: 60 patients (assessed within 1 year)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 28, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

May 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 21, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 23, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

October 24, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

September 8, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 30, 2025

Last Verified

August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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