BMC Anesthesiology (Apr 2019)

Cardioprotective effect of remote ischemic preconditioning with postconditioning on donor hearts in patients undergoing heart transplantation: a single-center, double-blind, randomized controlled trial

  • Guyan Wang,
  • Ying Zhang,
  • Lijing Yang,
  • Yimeng Chen,
  • Zhongrong Fang,
  • Hui Zhou,
  • Congya Zhang,
  • Guiyu Lei,
  • Sheng Shi,
  • Jun Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12871-019-0720-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract Background The cardioprotective effect of remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) in cardiovascular surgery is controversial. This study investigated whether RIPC combined with remote ischemic postconditioning (RIPostC) reduces myocardial injury to donor hearts in patients undergoing heart transplantation. Methods One hundred and twenty patients scheduled for orthotopic heart transplantation were enrolled and randomly assigned to an RIPC+RIPostC group (n = 60) or a control (n = 60) group. In the RIPC+RIPostC group, after anesthesia induction, four cycles of 5-min of ischemia and 5-min of reperfusion were applied to the right upper limb by a cuff inflated to 200 mmHg (RIPC) and 20 min after aortic declamping (RIPostC). Serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels were determined preoperatively and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 h after aortic declamping. Postoperative clinical outcomes were recorded. The primary endpoint was a comparison of serum cTnI levels at 6 h after aortic declamping. Results Compared with the preoperative baseline, in both groups, serum cTnI levels peaked at 6 h after aortic declamping. Compared with the control group, RIPC+RIPostC significantly reduced serum cTnI levels at 6 h after aortic declamping (38.87 ± 31.81 vs 69.30 ± 34.13 ng/ml, P = 0.02). There were no significant differences in in-hospital morbidity and mortality between the two groups. Conclusion In patients undergoing orthotopic heart transplantation, RIPC combined with RIPostC reduced myocardial injury at 6 h after aortic declamping, while we found no evidence of this function provided by RIPC+RIPostC could improve clinical outcomes. Trial registration Trial Registration Number: chictr.org.cn. no. ChiCTR-INR-16010234 (prospectively registered). The initial registration date was 9/1/2017.

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