Washington, November 10 : An Indian-origin scientist at the University at Buffalo is leading a landmark clinical trial, in which the ability of insulin to limit heart-tissue damage during a heart attack will be tested.

Dr. Paresh Dandona, a professor in the departments of Medicine and Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, has revealed that approximately 600 patients at 90 centres in the US and Latin America will be recruited to participate in the two-year INTENSIVE (Intensive Insulin Therapy and Size of Infarct as a Validated Endpoint by Cardiac MRI) trial.

The participants in the study, funded by sanofi-aventis, will be treated with two forms of insulin, namely, insulin glargine and insulin glulisine.

The trial is based on a pilot study documenting that insulin, used to treat and control type 1 and type 2 diabetes, was also cardioprotective.

"We are excited to learn more about the potential cardioprotective benefits we may discover with insulin. We think insulin will improve blood flow during a heart attack and help limit damage to heart tissue," said Dr. Dandona.

Previous studies evaluating the potential benefits of insulin were confounded by glucose levels that went up simultaneously as the subjects were given too much glucose.

The INTENSIVE trial will involve infusing relatively higher concentrations of insulin compared to glucose.

The treatment will be tailored to those patients with diabetes with glucose above 140 mg/dL on admission and with an anterior wall heart attack, the largest type of heart attack.

"This is the first large-scale trial that will be conducted using this individually tailored treatment strategy in patients who are undergoing a coronary procedure (PCI) for their heart attack," said Dr. Richard W. Nesto, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and chair of cardiovascular medicine at Lahey Clinic Medical Center in Burlington.

During the post-heart attack period, the patients will undergo an MRI for two to three months, in order to detect subtle change in cardiac structure and function.

"The MRI technology being used in the INTENSIVE trial is at the forefront of cardiac imaging," Nesto said. (ANI)