Oral curcumin in elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair: a multicentre randomized controlled trial

Multicenter randomized controlled trial in adults undergoing elective abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, either open or endovascular, at 10 academic hospitals in 4 provinces. For the curcumin arm, 313 participants were randomized and 304 were analyzed.

Oral curcumin capsules containing 95% curcumin from Curcuma longa were given perioperatively. The regimen was 4000 mg/day in 2 divided doses for 2 days before repair, then 2000 mg the morning of surgery, 2000 mg on call to the operating room, 2000 mg 6 hours after surgery, and 2000 mg the next morning, compared with placebo.

Perioperative curcumin did not improve the biomarker panel, hospital stay, or overall clinical outcomes. Postoperative urine IL-18 was 13 (6 to 27) with curcumin versus 16 (7 to 30) with placebo (p = 0.2), serum creatinine rise was 1 (-7 to 19) versus 1 (-6 to 12) (p = 0.2), NT-pro-BNP was 221 (67 to 511) versus 184 (48 to 431) (p = 0.1), and hs-CRP was 58 (28 to 95) versus 58 (30 to 90) (p = 0.9). Acute kidney injury was higher with curcumin, 51 (17) versus 30 (10) with placebo (p = 0.01), while hospital length of stay was 5 (2 to 8) versus 5 (2 to 7) (p > 0.9) and the composite of clinical events was 28 (9) versus 27 (9) (p = 0.9). The authors concluded that curcumin provided no beneficial effect in this surgical setting.

The intervention was short-term and perioperative, so it may not address longer-term outcomes. The sample was largely older and White, limiting generalizability. Curcumin use before enrollment was not monitored in detail, and the trial was focused on biomarker and postoperative endpoints rather than broader clinical recovery measures.