Intervention, Randomization and blinding
We enrolled 54 critically ill patients in this study. Patients were
randomly assigned using block randomization with fixed block size of 4
to placebo (n=27) or L-Carnitine (LC) group (n=27). The intervention
group received 3000 mg/day L-Carnitine divided into 3 equal doses of 1
gram L-carnitine as a liquid form (BSK, Zist Takhmir Co, Tehran-Iran)
with daily enteral feeding for 7-days and the placebo group (Distilled
water) with same dose and duration. L-carnitine and placebo are same
regarding the color, shape, odor and size, thus, patients, and
physicians and investigators were blinded. Furthermore, the laboratory
personnel and statisticians were blinded to the treatment allocation.
In both groups, after 24-48 hours of admission and when hemodynamic
resuscitation and stabilization were carried out, enteral nutrition was
initiated to provide 80-100% of the energy requirements of each
patient. Energy requirement was calculated to provide 25 kilocalories of
energy per kilogram of the body weight of each patient.