The role of glucose-insulin-potassium therapy in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction: A review article

Given the high prevalence and high mortality of cardiovascular disease, special attention should be paid to its treatment. Currently, the main treatment for ST-elevation myocardial infarction is restoring blood flow by dissolving the clot. In addition to this basic treatment, several pharmacologic agents have been studied during the past years. In this paper, clinical trials about glucose-insulin-potassium are discussed in addition to adjuvant treatment which has been suggested in recent years. All studies published in journals or presented at scientific conferences were searched in Elsevier, PubMed, Cochrane, and SID databases using relevant keywords. After quality control, eligible articles were included in the study. The results of this review article showed that studies on the effects of glucose-insulin-potassium treatment on mortality, cardiac enzyme levels, left ventricular ejection fraction, ST resolution, and inflammatory and oxidative biomarkers have been conflicting. But, generally, evidence from newer studies conducted on larger numbers of patients has shown ineffectiveness of glucose-insulin-potassium therapy. Currently, glucose-insulin-potassium therapy should not be recommended as an adjunct to thrombolytic therapy.