Effect of Remote Ischemic Conditioning on Blood Pressure and Inflammatory Response in Women With Pre-eclampsia and Gestational Hypertension

Pre-eclampsia, which affects about 2 to 7% of pregnancies, is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality.

The onset of clinical symptoms (hypertension, proteinuria or end- organ dysfunction), are often seen in the last trimester of a pregnancy.

The disease can have major consequences for both the child and the mother. Yet there are only very limited treatment options, where induced labour is the only healing treatment. Today, the treatment consists in limiting blood pressure increase with medical treatment, whereby the pregnancy most often can result in term delivery.

Remote Ischaemic Conditioning (RIC) achieved by an automatic inflation of a blood pressure cuff to induce four 5-minute cycles of limb ischaemia and reperfusion, is a treatment that has been found to decrease the inflammatory response and lower blood pressure in states of myocardial infarction, chronic heart failure, and stroke.

The treatment is virtually a cost-free non-pharmacological and non-invasive therapeutic strategy performed by the patient herself in her home.