The Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvienza nell’Infarto Miocardico (GISSI–3) study was a multicenter, controlled, randomized, unblinded clinical trial conducted in 19,394 patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to a coronary care unit. It was designed to examine the effects of short-term (6 week) treatment with lisinopril, nitrates, their combination, or no therapy on short-term (6 week) mortality and on long-term death and markedly impaired cardiac function. Patients presenting within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms who were hemodynamically stable were randomized, in a 2 x 2 factorial design, to six weeks of either 1) lisinopril alone (n = 4841), 2) nitrates alone (n = 4869), 3) lisinopril plus nitrates (n = 4841), or 4) open control (n = 4843). All patients received routine therapies, including thrombolytics (72%), aspirin (84%), and a beta-blocker (31%), as appropriate, normally utilized in acute myocardial infarction (MI) patients.
The protocol excluded patients with hypotension (systolic blood pressure ≤ 100 mmHg), severe heart failure, cardiogenic shock, and renal dysfunction (serum creatinine > 2 mg/dL and/or proteinuria > 500 mg/24 h). Doses of lisinopril were adjusted as necessary according to protocol (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).
Study treatment was withdrawn at six weeks except where clinical conditions indicated continuation of treatment.
The primary outcomes of the trial were the overall mortality at 6 weeks and a combined endpoint at 6 months after the myocardial infarction, consisting of the number of patients who died, had late (day 4) clinical congestive heart failure, or had extensive left ventricular damage defined as ejection fraction ≤ 35% or an akinetic-dyskinetic [A-D] score ≥ 45%. Patients receiving lisinopril (n = 9646), alone or with nitrates, had an 11% lower risk of death (2p [two-tailed] = 0.04) compared to patients receiving no lisinopril (n = 9672) (6.4% vs. 7.2%, respectively) at six weeks. Although patients randomized to receive lisinopril for up to six weeks also fared numerically better on the combined endpoint at 6 months, the open nature of the assessment of heart failure, substantial loss to follow-up echocardiography, and substantial excess use of lisinopril between 6 weeks and 6 months in the group randomized to 6 weeks of lisinopril, preclude any conclusion about this endpoint.
Patients with acute myocardial infarction, treated with lisinopril, had a higher (9% vs. 3.7%) incidence of persistent hypotension (systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg for more than 1 hour) and renal dysfunction (2.4% vs. 1.1%) in-hospital and at six weeks (increasing creatinine concentration to over 3 mg/dL or a doubling or more of the baseline serum creatinine concentration) (see ADVERSE REACTIONS, Acute Myocardial Infarction).
Lisinopril tablets are indicated for the treatment of hemodynamically stable patients within 24 hours of acute myocardial infarction, to improve survival. Patients should receive, as appropriate, the standard recommended treatments such as thrombolytics, aspirin and beta-blockers.
In using lisinopril tablets, consideration should be given to the fact that another angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, captopril, has caused agranulocytosis, particularly in patients with renal impairment or collagen vascular disease, and that available data are insufficient to show that lisinopril tablets do not have a similar risk (see WARNINGS).
In considering use of lisinopril tablets, it should be noted that in controlled clinical trials, ACE inhibitors have an effect on blood pressure that is less in Black patients than in non-Blacks. In addition, ACE inhibitors have been associated with a higher rate of angioedema in Black than in non-Black patients (see WARNINGS, Anaphylactoid and Possibly Related Reactions).
In the GISSI–3 trial, in patients treated with lisinopril for six weeks following acute myocardial infarction, discontinuation of therapy occurred in 17.6% of patients.
Patients treated with lisinopril had a significantly higher incidence of hypotension and renal dysfunction compared with patients not taking lisinopril.
In the GISSI–3 trial, hypotension (9.7%), renal dysfunction (2%), cough (0.5%), post-infarction angina (0.3%), skin rash and generalized edema (0.01%), and angioedema (0.01%) resulted in withdrawal of treatment. In elderly patients treated with lisinopril, discontinuation due to renal dysfunction was 4.2%.
Other clinical adverse experiences occurring in 0.3% to 1% of patients with hypertension or heart failure treated with lisinopril in controlled clinical trials and rarer, serious, possibly drug-related events reported in uncontrolled studies or marketing experience are listed below, and within each category, are in order of decreasing severity:
In hemodynamically stable patients within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms of acute myocardial infarction, the first dose of lisinopril tablets is 5 mg given orally, followed by 5 mg after 24 hours, 10 mg after 48 hours and then 10 mg of lisinopril tablets once daily. Dosing should continue for six weeks. Patients should receive, as appropriate, the standard recommended treatments such as thrombolytics, aspirin, and beta-blockers.
Patients with a low systolic blood pressure (≤ 120 mmHg) when treatment is started or during the first 3 days after the infarct should be given a lower 2.5 mg oral dose of lisinopril tablets (see WARNINGS). If hypotension occurs (systolic blood pressure ≤ 100 mmHg), a daily maintenance dose of 5 mg may be given with temporary reductions to 2.5 mg if needed. If prolonged hypotension occurs (systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg for more than 1 hour) lisinopril tablets should be withdrawn. For patients who develop symptoms of heart failure, see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION, Heart Failure.