title: Cardioprotective and prognostic effects of remote ischaemic preconditioning in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery: a single-centre randomised, double-blind, controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Remote ischaemic preconditioning has been associated with reduced risk of myocardial injury after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. We investigated the safety and efficacy of this procedure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eligible patients were those scheduled to undergo elective isolated first-time CABG surgery under cold crystalloid cardioplegia and cardiopulmonary bypass at the West-German Heart Centre, Essen, Germany, between April, 2008, and October, 2012. Patients were prospectively randomised to receive remote ischaemic preconditioning (three cycles of 5 min ischaemia and 5 min reperfusion in the left upper arm after induction of anaesthesia) or no ischaemic preconditioning (control). The primary endpoint was myocardial injury, as reflected by the geometric mean area under the curve (AUC) for perioperative concentrations of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in serum in the first 72 h after CABG. Mortality was the main safety endpoint. Analysis was done in intention-to-treat and per-protocol populations. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01406678.
  
  
  RESULTS
  329 patients were enrolled. Baseline characteristics and perioperative data did not differ between groups. cTnI AUC was 266 ng/mL over 72 h (95% CI 237-298) in the remote ischaemic preconditioning group and 321 ng/mL (287-360) in the control group. In the intention-to-treat population, the ratio of remote ischaemic preconditioning to control for cTnI AUC was 0·83 (95% CI 0·70-0·97, p=0·022). cTnI release remained lower in the per-protocol analysis (0·79, 0·66-0·94, p=0·001). All-cause mortality was assessed over 1·54 (SD 1·22) years and was lower with remote ischaemic preconditioning than without (ratio 0·27, 95% CI 0·08-0·98, p=0·046).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Remote ischaemic preconditioning provided perioperative myocardial protection and improved the prognosis of patients undergoing elective CABG surgery.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  German Research Foundation.
authors: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors: Matthias
authors: M
authors: Thielmann
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Kottenberg
authors: Petra
authors: P
authors: Kleinbongard
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Wendt
authors: Nilgün
authors: N
authors: Gedik
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Pasa
authors: Vivien
authors: V
authors: Price
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Tsagakis
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Neuhäuser
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Peters
authors: Heinz
authors: H
authors: Jakob
authors: Gerd
authors: G
authors: Heusch
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019157:Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D019210:Troponin I / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D019210:Troponin I