Effect of Vitamin D in the Prevention of Myocardial Injury Following Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract Myocardial injury following elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) occurs in about one‐third of patients and is associated with mortality. Platelet aggregation, thrombosis formation, and inflammation are the main causes of cardiac injury during PCI. Vitamin D plays a key role in the cardiovascular system by exerting antiplatelet, anticoagulant, and anti‐inflammatory properties. There is no published study that investigated the effect of vitamin D in the prevention of cardiac injury following elective PCI. In a randomized clinical trial, 99 patients admitted for elective PCI were randomized into vitamin D (n = 52) and control (n = 47) groups. The intervention group received 300 000 IU vitamin D orally 12 hours before PCI. The cardiac biomarkers were checked at baseline, 8 and 24 hours after PCI. hs‐CRP was also measured at baseline and after 24 hours. The increase in CK‐MB was documented in 20 patients (42%) in the control group and 18 patients (34.6%) in the intervention group ( P = .417). Furthermore, the increase in cTnI occurred in 4 patients (8%) and 2 patients (3.3%) in the control and intervention groups, respectively ( P = .419). No significant changes were noted in the level of cardiac biomarkers. In the vitamin D group, the mean difference in CK‐MB between 8 and 24 hours was significantly lower ( P = .048). The mean difference in hs‐CRP was significantly lower in the vitamin D group ( P = .045). This study could not show a clear effect of vitamin D in the prevention of cardiac injury during elective PCI. Further outcome‐based studies are needed to describe the role of vitamin D in the prevention of periprocedural myocardial injury.