• Fernando de Frutos, Alfredo Gea, Rafael Hernandez-Estefania, and Gregorio Rabago.
• Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Clinica-University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain fdefrutos@alumni.unav.es.
• Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2015 Feb 1; 20 (2): 254-9.

AbstractCoenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a lipid-soluble antioxidant that could have beneficial effects in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. There is no clear evidence about its clinical effects or a systematic review published yet. We aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature to elucidate the role of coenzyme Q10 in preventing complications in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. We searched the PubMed Database using the following keywords: Coenzyme Q10, ubiquinone, ubiquinol, CoQ10, Heart Surgery, Cardiac surgery. Articles were systematically retrieved, selected, assessed and summarized for this review. We performed separate meta-analyses for different outcomes (inotropic drug requirements after surgery, incidence of ventricular arrhythmias and atrial fibrillation, cardiac index 24 h after surgery and hospital stay), estimating pooled odds ratios (ORs) or mean differences of the association of CoQ10 administration with the risk of these outcomes. Eight clinical trials met our inclusion criteria. Patients with CoQ10 treatment were significantly less likely to require inotropic drugs after surgery {OR [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.47 (0.27-0.81)]}, and to develop ventricular arrhythmias after surgery [OR (95% CI) 0.05 (0.01-0.31)]. However, CoQ10 treatment was not associated with Cardiac index 24 h after surgery [mean difference (95% CI) 0.06 (-0.30 to 0.43)], hospital stay (days) [mean difference (95% CI) -0.61 (-4.61 to 3.39)] and incidence of atrial fibrillation [OR (95% CI) 1.06 (0.19-6.04)]. Since none of the clinical trials included in this review report any adverse effects associated to CoQ10 administration, and coenzyme Q10 has been demonstrated to be safe even at much higher doses in other studies, we conclude that CoQ10 should be considered as a prophylactic treatment for preventing complications in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. However, better quality randomized, controlled trials are needed to clarify the role of CoQ10 in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

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