Derek J Hausenloy, Luciano Candilio, Richard Evans, Cono Ariti, David P Jenkins, Shyam Kolvekar, Rosemary Knight, Gudrun Kunst, Christopher Laing, Jennifer Nicholas, John Pepper, Steven Robertson, Maria Xenou, Tim Clayton, Derek M Yellon
BACKGROUND: Whether remote ischemic preconditioning (transient ischemia and reperfusion of the arm) can improve clinical outcomes in patients undergoing coronary-artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is not known. We investigated this question in a randomized trial. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, sham-controlled trial involving adults at increased surgical risk who were undergoing on-pump CABG (with or without valve surgery) with blood cardioplegia. After anesthesia induction and before surgical incision, patients were randomly assigned to remote ischemic preconditioning (four 5-minute inflations and deflations of a standard blood-pressure cuff on the upper arm) or sham conditioning (control group)...
October 8, 2015: New England Journal of Medicine