Response to Letter Regarding Article, “Glucose-Insulin-Potassium Reduces the Incidence of Low Cardiac Output Episodes After Aortic Valve Replacement for Aortic Stenosis in Patients With Left Ventricular Hypertrophy: Results From the Hypertrophy, Insulin, Glucose, and Electrolytes (HINGE) Trial”

We are grateful to Drs Taegtmeyer and Khalaf for their interest and comments, especially because they have contributed substantially to the biology of the glucose-insulin-potassium (GIK) debate. We would agree that interpretation of the data on GIK is indeed difficult because of the variety of regimens being tested in a number of scenarios. Our study represents the third trial of GIK at our center, and was conceived on the basis of the perceived metabolic vulnerability of the hypertrophied myocardium.1 Surgical trials examining mortality are clearly the gold standard; however, in 2003, when this trial was being designed, the mortality for isolated aortic valve replacement was ≈3%.2 Powering a study designed to analyze survival in …