Impact of N-acetylcysteine on endothelial function, B-type natriuretic peptide and renal function in patients with the cardiorenal syndrome: a pilot cross over randomised controlled trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of BNP (Nesiritide), published as a randomized controlled trial.

The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a potent antioxidant, on endothelial function, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and renal function in patients with CRS.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as teenagers, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover and pilot.

Because people in this BNP (Nesiritide) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind BNP (Nesiritide) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the BNP (Nesiritide) group a baseline to be compared against.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both BNP (Nesiritide) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

A time span of 28 days appears in the methods.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Acetylcysteine, Cardio-Renal Syndrome, Endothelium, Vascular, Free Radical Scavengers, Kidney, Kidney Function Tests and Natriuretic Peptide, Brain.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of BNP (Nesiritide) over 28 days.

Results are reported in around 6 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2013 (Heart, lung & circulation), a journal based in Australia.

More context: the BNP (Nesiritide) compound page, all human trials.