A study to be presented at the American College of Cardiology 2015 Scientific Sessions (OMEGA-REMODEL) shows that high doses of omega-3 fatty acids given to infarction patients on top of standard treatment alone significantly improve the structure and function of the heart compared to patients receiving standard treatment for heart attack. Cardiac magnetic resonance examinations revealed a significant reduction in left ventricular end-systolic volume index (LVESVI) and myocardial extracellular volume fraction (MECVF) in patients treated with 4 g of omega-3 fatty acids once daily. Raymond Kwong, a researcher from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said, “The high-risk period after an infarction continues to require the full attention of clinicians. Although our treatment has resulted in a significant reduction in mortality, the incidence of post-infarction arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death remains high.” The GISSI-Prevenzione study showed that 1 g of omega-3 fatty acids in post-infarction patients significantly reduced the risk of sudden cardiac death and all-cause mortality, but subsequent studies did not find a similar benefit. Therefore, the OMEGA-REMODEL study followed suit. The study included 358 post-infarction patients, who were randomly assigned to either the omega-3 fatty acid group or the placebo group. If you carefully review the basic pharmacokinetics and mechanisms of fish oil, you will find that fish oil has many benefits for heart health, such as reducing the inflammatory response after a heart attack,” said Raymond Kwong. The study found that six months of polyunsaturated fatty acid treatment significantly reduced LVESVI (heart attack associated with post-infarction improvement) compared to placebo. In addition, the investigators assessed the area of non-infarcted myocardium using the MECVF, an index for assessing post-infarction fibrosis. Raymond Kwong noted, “After an infarction, the undamaged myocardium needs to work to compensate due to poor cardiac function, which can potentially lead to fibrosis in this undamaged myocardium. If there is ongoing inflammation after an infarction, this inflammation may cause some degree of fibrosis in the undamaged myocardium, and fish oil has the potential to alter this process. And we found a significant reduction in myocardial extracellular volume fraction in patients treated with fish oil.” In addition, patients in the omega-3 fatty acid group also showed significant reductions in inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein, myeloperoxidase and ST2 (a marker of cardiac remodeling and fibrosis severity). The investigators said that given that the study used surrogate markers, they will conduct a larger randomized controlled study to further investigate the effect of high-dose omega-3 fatty acids on hard endpoints in infarct patients. raymond Kwong also said that since the trial showed significant improvements in MECVF and LVESVI in infarct patients, this may help improve clinical regression in patients.