Skeletal muscle relaxants as adjunctive pain control following cardiothoracic surgery: a systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION: Multimodal pain control following cardiothoracic surgery remains a focus in international guidelines. We hypothesise that non-depolarising skeletal muscle relaxants can prove to be a useful adjunct for this population. METHODS/ANALYSIS: This systematic review will focus on human adult studies of pain control using muscle relaxants within 1 week following cardiac and thoracic surgery available in PubMed, Cochrane Central, Web of Science and EMBASE. Target studies will have a primary focus on measured effects on quality of pain control and reduction in opioid usage. Studies that include non-depolarising skeletal muscle relaxants given during cardiothoracic surgery or in the week after will be included. Study selection will be in keeping with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Procedures and agents used will be analysed together, and a meta-analysis will be conducted then compared with current therapies recommended in international practice guidelines. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Formal ethical approval will not be required as primary data will not be collected. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication, conference presentation and lay press. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42023397917.

The role of aspirin, statins, colchicine, and IL-1 inhibitors in prevention of cardiovascular events: a systematic integrative review.

CONTEXT: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. As such, an unmet need exists in the primary and secondary prevention of adverse cardiovascular events (CVEs). Specifically, identifying drugs that can reduce the progression of CVD and serious adverse events is much needed. Drugs that work by reducing platelet aggregation, blocking cholesterol formation (3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A [HMG-CoA] reductase inhibitors), and/or blocking inflammation pathways (mainly interleukin-1b [IL-1b]) have been linked to preventing adverse CVEs, including acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, aspirin), statins, colchicine, and IL-1 inhibitors (interleukin-1 receptor antagonists). This systematic review aims to provide insight into utilizing these four agents for the primary and/or secondary prevention of CVD. OBJECTIVES: In this systematic review, we opted to review the efficacy of aspirin, statins, colchicine, and IL-1 inhibitors in the primary and secondary prevention of CVE to provide clinical practitioners with evidence-based practice approaches and determine any unmet needs in their utilization. METHODS: Between October 1 and 12, 2021, a search was conducted and completed on five databases: PubMed, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Web of Science, and Biomedical Reference Collection: Comprehensive. A total of 13 researchers (V.A., A.H., S.B., V.G., D.C., C.C., C.B., C.A., S.K., J.H., A.K., S.F., and S.E.) were involved in the search and screening of the articles. Search terms included "aspirin, statins, colchicine, IL-1 inhibitors, and primary, secondary, myocardial infarction (MI)." Inclusion criteria included clinical study design, English language articles, all genders older than 50 years old, and established patient history of CVD, including MI. In addition, articles were excluded if they were animal models, in vitro studies, pharmacokinetic studies, systematic reviews, literature reviews, and studies exploring therapies other than those listed in the inclusion criteria. First, five individuals independently sorted through abstracts or articles based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then, a team of 13 individuals sorted through full-text articles of selected abstracts based on the same criteria. A separate researcher resolved conflicts between the team. RESULTS: A total of 725 articles were identified from all databases, from which 256 duplicated articles were removed. Thus, a total of 469 articles abstracts were screened, of which 425 articles either did not meet the inclusion criteria or met the exclusion criteria. A total of 42 articles were retrieved and assessed for full-text review, from which 15 articles were retrieved for analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Statins may prevent primary CVEs based on their role in preventing cholesterol formation. Aspirin, canakinumab, and colchicine may be helpful in the secondary prevention of CVEs due to their blocking of various steps in the inflammation pathway leading to CVD. Future research should primarily focus on the use of canakinumab and colchicine in preventing CVD due to the limited number of studies on these drugs.

Potential Therapeutic Treatments for Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is an anthracycline antibiotic used to treat many cancers, including breast cancer, leukemia, and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Positive aspects of DOX use are limited by the cardiomyopathy that it may cause. For this reason, it is crucial to uncover effective treatments against DOX-induced cardiomyopathy (DIC). Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in DIC, and this understanding has helped guide potential treatments for DIC. The purpose of this study was to review and describe current and emerging treatments for DIC and their potential cardioprotective effects against DIC. The goals were to: (1) provide a single-source report to aid clinicians in exploring different treatment plans that are personalized for their patients and (2) stimulate researchers to consider evaluating promising and emerging treatment modalities. Evolving understanding of DIC pathophysiology remains fundamental in elucidating the course for future medical therapies. The main conclusion of this study was that the use of existing pharmaceutical agents might represent a possible approach towards mitigating DIC with more extensive clinical data. A limitation of all reviewed studies was that none included an experimental model in which DOX was used to treat animals with preexisting cancer. This limitation fails to identify the impacts that cancer may play in DIC pathophysiology and the potential mitigating effects of DIC treatments. Future research should consider this limitation with appropriately revised protocols.