Remote Ischemic Preconditioning in ad Hoc Percutaneous Coronary Interventions: a Randomized Clinical Study

Elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with troponin release in approximately one third of cases, which is a sensitive and specific marker of myocyte necrosis. Myocardial necrosis may result from downstream embolization of atheromatous material, coronary side-branch occlusion and may involve ischemia/reperfusion injury. A number of studies have demonstrated that procedure-related troponin release is associated with subsequent cardiovascular events and a worst prognosis, especially in those patients with the most marked elevation in troponin concentration.

Recently, 3 cycles of 5-minute ischemia followed by 5-minute reperfusion of the upper extremities were shown to reduce troponin release in elective PCI. However, this ischemic preconditioning (IPC) protocol requires 30 minutes and is of limited use in the context of PCI at the time of initial cardiac catheterization (ad hoc coronary intervention).

Since experimental evidence suggests that IPC is a graded than an "all-or-nothing" phenomenon, and even a short, single IPC cycle may have protective effects in the myocardium, the investigators hypothesized that patients undergoing ad hoc coronary intervention would have reduced peri-procedural troponin release if subjected to a single, remote IPC cycle, between diagnostic catheterization and coronary intervention.