Aims: To compare the antianginal efficacy of trimetazidine with that of other agents with no influence on heart rate. Methods and Results: Medline and Embase databases were searched for blinded, randomized, controlled trials assessing the effects of non-heart-rate-lowering antianginal treatments on exercise tolerance and/or clinical criteria in stable angina patients. All relevant trimetazidine trials including the VASCO trial, the results of which are published herein, were included. A Bayesian network meta-analysis on the summary data was performed. Comparator antianginal agents were considered as a group and in agent/class subgroups. Trials involving β-blockers, non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, and ivabradine were excluded. 218 trials totaling 19,028 patients were included in at least 1 network analysis. Effects of trimetazidine were statistically significant compared with placebo for exercise tolerance and clinical criteria. Transposition of results into seconds for clinical interpretation of exercise tolerance parameters showed a mean improvement of +46 s (95% credibility interval: 28; 66) for total exercise duration, +55 s (35; 77) for 1-mm ST segment depression (T1), and +54 s (24; 84) for time to onset of angina, in favor of trimetazidine. Differences between trimetazidine and active comparators were not significant when exercise tolerance and clinical criteria were analyzed, with +7 s (–12; 28) for total exercise duration, –1 s (–23; 22) for T1, +8 s (–22; 40) for time to onset of angina, and –0.28 (–1.17; 0.64) attacks per week for trimetazidine compared with antianginal agents as a group. Conclusions: Trimetazidine efficacy was comparable to that of other non-heart-rate-lowering antianginal treatments in patients with stable angina pectoris.

Keywords:
Trimetazidine, Meta-analysis, Exercise testing, Angina pectoris
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© 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel
2011
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