Clinical Trials Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Aug 26, 2021; 13(8): 348-360
Published online Aug 26, 2021. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v13.i8.348
Nutritional supplement drink reduces inflammation and postoperative depression in patients after off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery
Satoshi Matsushita, Akie Shimada, Taira Yamamoto, Kazuo Minematsu, Hirotaka Inaba, Kenji Kuwaki, Atsushi Amano
Satoshi Matsushita, Akie Shimada, Taira Yamamoto, Hirotaka Inaba, Kenji Kuwaki, Atsushi Amano, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
Kazuo Minematsu, Department of School Health, Graduate School of Education, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki 852-8521, Japan
Hirotaka Inaba, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital, Chiba 279-0021, Japan
Kenji Kuwaki, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Tokai University Hachioji Hospital, Tokyo 192-0032, Japan
Author contributions: Matsushita S, Shimada A, Yamamoto T, Inaba H, Kuwaki K and Amano A designed the study; Shimada A, Yamamoto T, Inaba H, Kuwaki K and Amano A enrolled the patients and collected the data; Minematsu K interpreted statistical data analyses; Matsushita S and Minematsu K prepared tables and figures; Matsushita S wrote the first draft of the manuscript; all authors read, edited, and approved the manuscript for submission.
Institutional review board statement: The institutional review board of Juntendo University Hospital approved the study protocol (approval No. 13-110).
Clinical trial registration statement: The study was registered on Japanese clinical trial registry (UMIN-CTR: No. UMIN000012186).
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Sato Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd supported this study by providing the nutritional supplement drink (Yunker DCF®) and by defraying the fee for cytokine level measurement.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Satoshi Matsushita, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan. saty-m@juntendo.ac.jp
Received: January 28, 2021
Peer-review started: January 28, 2021
First decision: May 6, 2021
Revised: May 13, 2021
Accepted: July 20, 2021
Article in press: July 20, 2021
Published online: August 26, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Some patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery still suffered from depression and prolongation of hospital stay after surgery, although postoperative complications are reduced with the technical development such as the off-pump technique. Recently, patients with low cardiac function, high age, frail, or complicated conditions who often delayed postoperative rehabilitation are increased. These patients are potentially frail and exhibit systemic deterioration.

Research motivation

Consuming nutritional supplement drink when a person experiences fatigue or develops illnesses such a cold is a widely accepted practice in our society. Various kinds of nutritional supplement drinks are commercially available in Japan. These drink should be safe and useful for these patients after surgery.

Research objectives

We aimed to investigate the effect of taking an herbal medicine-containing, commercially available drink for postoperative rehabilitation in those patients.

Research methods

Patients who underwent isolated off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery were divided into two groups: (a) consumed one bottle of a caffeine-free nutritional supplement drink on a daily basis (YKR group), and (b) underwent regular rehabilitation (CTL group).

Research results

Although there were no differences in postoperative complications and the duration of postoperative hospital stay between the two groups, the YKR group had a significantly increased number of daily steps postoperatively (P < 0.05) and had significantly lower postoperative serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels (P < 0.01), while no significant differences were observed in the levels of other inflammatory or stress-related cytokines (interleukin-6, adiponectin, superoxide dismutase, and urine 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine) between the two groups. Also, the YKR group showed a significant improvement in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Score (P < 0.05).

Research conclusions

The daily intake of an herbal medicine-containing drink after OPCAB surgery may have beneficial effects on cardiac rehabilitation by reducing inflammation markers and depression.

Research perspectives

The drink contains herbal medicine, vitamin and other materials. We should investigate what contain works the most effectively.