Effects of L-carnitine on plasma free carnitine levels and cardiac functions in children with cardiomyopathy

Objective To investigate the effect of exogenous L-carnitine on plasma free carnitine levels and cardiacfunction in children with cardiomyopathy.MethodsA total of 88 patients with myocardiopathy were divided into treat-ment group and control group randomly. The control group received conventional therapy. The treatment group receivedadditional intravenous L-carnitine therapy of 100mg/kg.d for 14 days on the basis of conventional therapy, then changedto oral L-carnitine consistently. The oral dosage was 10 ml once a day in patients under 6 years of age,10 ml twice a dayin patients over 7 years.The plasma free carnitine levels and the improvement of cardiac function including left ventricu-lar ejection fraction(LVEF),cardiac output(CO),stroke volume(SV),cardiac index(CI),EF slope(MVEF)and leftventricular wall motion fast filling phase fraction(LFFPW),combined with electrocardiography,the plasma free carni-tine levels,C-reactive protein(CRP),myocardial enzymes were analyzed before and after therapy.ResultsCom-pared with control group,or those before treatment,the LVEF,CO,SV,CIMVEF and LFFPW of the treatment group im-proved significantly.The plasma free carnitine levels increased markly and had significant difference compared withthose before treatment or control group.ConclusionL-carnitine supplement significantly increases the plasma free car-nitine levels and improves cardiac function in children with cardiomyopathy.L-carnitine had a good therapeutic effect inchildren with cardiomyopathy.