BOSTON, Oct 24: Large doses of the heart drug propranolol may speed recovery for burn victims, University of Texas researchers report in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

The scientific team found that propranolol reduced the muscle deterioration that accompanies severe burns.

The finding could lead to improved treatment for victims of other types of trauma as well because rehabilitation can be hindered by the body’s natural tendency to shed protein and muscle mass after a severe injury.

Dr David Herndon and his colleagues did not actually track the progress of the 25 children involved in the new study, half of whom were given propranolol. Instead, they measured muscle wasting in the young burn victims.

They found that muscle protein levels declined by 27 percent among children who did not get the propranolol, but increased by 82 percent among the youngsters who did get the drug, which is sold by several manufacturers.

“These changes would presumably improve the patients’ strength and ability to recuperate,” the Herndon team concluded.

The findings, researchers said, “may benefit a wide variety of patients ... such as those with trauma and those who are undergoing general surgery” and also face the risk of muscle wasting.

The main threat of the drug is that it can cause a serious drop in blood pressure and a dangerously-slowed heart rate. The researchers gave a dose that lowered the resting heart rate by 20 percent.

In an editorial in the Journal, Dr. Robert Sheridan of the Shriners Burns Hospital in Boston said although muscle wasting is a big problem for recovery, but “this new therapy should be used cautiously and only in an intensive care unit.”—Reuters