Angina pectoris; role of trimetazidine

ABSTRACT

To assess the clinical efficacy, cost effectiveness and side effect profile of trimetazidine in the management of stable angina pectoris. An open label, uncontrolled study was conducted in 200 patients with stable angina in armed forces institute of cardiology, Rawalpindi Pakistan. Patients were treated for 4 weeks with modified release trimetazidine tablet [35 mg] twice daily in addition to their conventional therapy. As compared to base line trimetazidine significantly reduced the number of angina episodes per week from 10 to 3 [p<0.005], improved exercise duration time on standard exercise tolerance test [ETT] [410 vs. 370 sec; p<0.01], time to onset of typical angina [380 vs. 290 sec; p<0.05], time to 1mm or more ST segment depression [340 vs. 290 sec; p<0.01]. There was no drop out of patients due to side effects or non compliance. These results indicate that trimetazidine is effective and well tolerated when used in combination with existing antianginal therapy in patients with angina pectoris