Preconditioning Shields Against Vascular Events in Surgery

NCT ID: NCT01691911

Last Updated: 2015-06-03

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 200 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2012-02-29
• Study Completion Date: 2014-11-30

Brief Summary

Major vascular surgery involves operations to repair swollen blood vessels, clear debris from blocked arteries or bypass blocked blood vessels. Patients with these problems are a high-risk surgical group as they have generalized blood vessel disease. These puts them at risk of major complications around the time of surgery such as heart attacks , strokes and death. The mortality following repair of a swollen main artery in the abdomen is about 1 in 20. This contrasts poorly with the 1 per 100 risk of death following a heart bypass. Simple and cost-effective methods are needed to reduce the risks of major vascular surgery. Remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) may be such a technique. To induce RIPC, the blood supply to muscle in the patient's arm is interrupted for about 5 minutes. It is then restored for a further five minutes. This cycle is repeated three more times. The blood supply is interrupted simply by inflating a blood pressure cuff to maximum pressure. This repeated brief interruption of the muscular blood supply sends signals to critical organs such as the brain and heart, which are rendered temporarily resistant to damage from reduced blood supply. Several small randomized clinical trials in patients undergoing different types of major vascular surgery have demonstrated a potential benefit. This large, multi-centre trial aims to determine whether RIPC can reduce complications in routine practice.

Detailed Description

The demand for major vascular surgery is increasing [1]. Patients requiring procedures such as aortic aneurysm repair, carotid endarterectomy, lower limb surgical re-vascularisation and major lower limb amputation for end-stage vascular disease constitute a high-risk surgical cohort. Peri-operative complications such as myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular accident, renal failure and death are common [2,3]. Multiple potential mechanisms may result in these complications. For example, myocardial injury may result from systemic hypotension leading to reduced flow across a tight coronary artery stenosis or, alternatively, it may arise due to acute occlusion when an unstable plaque ruptures. Most strategies aimed at peri-operative risk reduction target a single potential mechanism. For example, beta-blockade may prevent myocardial injury due to overwork, but cannot prevent acute coronary occlusion. There is a requirement for a simple, effective intervention that protects tissues against injury via multiple different mechanisms. Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) may be suitable.

Ischemic preconditioning is a phenomenon whereby a brief period of non-lethal ischemia in a tissue renders it resistant to the effects of a subsequent much longer ischaemic insult. It was first described in the canine heart [4]. Subsequent clinical trials showed that ischemic preconditioning reduced heart muscle damage following coronary artery bypass grafting [5] and liver dysfunction following hepatic resection [6]. Following cardiac surgery, it is associated with a reduction in critical care stay, arrhythmias and inotrope use [7]. However, ischemic preconditioning requires direct interference with the target tissues' blood supply, limiting its clinical utility. Further experimental work suggested that brief ischemia in one tissue, such as the kidneys, could confer protection on distant organs such as the heart [8]. A similar effect was observed after transient skeletal muscle ischemia [9-11]. This effect is referred to as 'preconditioning at a distance' or 'remote ischemic preconditioning' (RIPC).

Conditions

Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm; Carotid Atherosclerosis; Critical Lower Limb Ischaemia

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Remote preconditioning

Preconditioning will be performed in the same manner as several previous trials. Immediately after induction of anaesthesia, a standard, CE-approved blood pressure cuff will be placed around one arm of the patient. It will then be inflated to a pressure of 200mmHg for 5 minutes. For patients with a systolic blood pressure \>185mmHg, the cuff will be inflated to at least 15mmHg above the patient's systolic blood pressure. The cuff will then be deflated and the arm allowed reperfuse for 5 minutes. This will be repeated so that each patient receives a total of 4 ischaemia-reperfusion cycles. In all other respects, the procedure and peri-operative care will follow the routine practices of the surgeons and anaesthetists involved.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Remote preconditioning

Intervention Type: PROCEDURE

Immediately after induction of anaesthesia, a standard, CE-approved tourniquet cuff will be placed around one arm of the patient. It will then be inflated to a pressure of 200mmHg for 5 minutes. For patients with a systolic blood pressure \>185mmHg, the cuff will be inflated to at least 15mmHg above the patient's systolic blood pressure. The cuff will then be deflated and the arm allowed reperfuse for 5 minutes. This will be repeated so that each patient receives a total of 4 ischaemia-reperfusion cycles. In all other respects, the procedure and peri-operative care will follow the routine practices of the surgeons and anaesthetists involved.

Remote preconditioning control

Patients randomised to this group will receive routine pre-operative, peri-operative and post operative care.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Remote preconditioning

Immediately after induction of anaesthesia, a standard, CE-approved tourniquet cuff will be placed around one arm of the patient. It will then be inflated to a pressure of 200mmHg for 5 minutes. For patients with a systolic blood pressure \>185mmHg, the cuff will be inflated to at least 15mmHg above the patient's systolic blood pressure. The cuff will then be deflated and the arm allowed reperfuse for 5 minutes. This will be repeated so that each patient receives a total of 4 ischaemia-reperfusion cycles. In all other respects, the procedure and peri-operative care will follow the routine practices of the surgeons and anaesthetists involved.

Intervention Type: PROCEDURE

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age greater than 18 years
• patient willing to give full informed consent for participation
• Patients undergoing elective carotid endarterectomy or
• Patients undergoing open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair or
• Patients undergoing endovascular abdominal aneurysm repair or
• Patients undergoing surgical lower limb revascularisation (suprainguinal or infrainguinal)

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients less than 18 years of age
• Patients who are unable or unwilling to give full informed consent
• Pregnancy
• Significant upper limb peripheral arterial disease
• Patients on glibenclamide or nicorandil (these medications may interfere with remote ischaemic preconditioning)
• Patients with an estimated pre-operative glomerular filtration rate < 30mls/min/1.73m2
• Patients with a history of myocarditis, pericarditis or amyloidosis
• Patients undergoing Fenestrated or branched EVAR.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ireland

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Professor Stewart Walsh

Professor Stewart Walsh

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Stewart R Walsh, MCh FRCS

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Mid Western Regional Hospital and University of Limerick

Locations

MidWestern Regional Hospital

Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

Countries

Ireland

References

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Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 16235289 (View on PubMed)

Greenhalgh RM, Brown LC, Kwong GP, Powell JT, Thompson SG; EVAR trial participants. Comparison of endovascular aneurysm repair with open repair in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (EVAR trial 1), 30-day operative mortality results: randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2004 Sep 4-10;364(9437):843-8. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16979-1.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 3769170 (View on PubMed)

Jenkins DP, Pugsley WB, Alkhulaifi AM, Kemp M, Hooper J, Yellon DM. Ischaemic preconditioning reduces troponin T release in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. Heart. 1997 Apr;77(4):314-8. doi: 10.1136/hrt.77.4.314.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Clavien PA, Selzner M, Rudiger HA, Graf R, Kadry Z, Rousson V, Jochum W. A prospective randomized study in 100 consecutive patients undergoing major liver resection with versus without ischemic preconditioning. Ann Surg. 2003 Dec;238(6):843-50; discussion 851-2. doi: 10.1097/01.sla.0000098620.27623.7d.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 18783958 (View on PubMed)

Przyklenk K, Bauer B, Ovize M, Kloner RA, Whittaker P. Regional ischemic 'preconditioning' protects remote virgin myocardium from subsequent sustained coronary occlusion. Circulation. 1993 Mar;87(3):893-9. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.87.3.893.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 7680290 (View on PubMed)

Birnbaum Y, Hale SL, Kloner RA. Ischemic preconditioning at a distance: reduction of myocardial infarct size by partial reduction of blood supply combined with rapid stimulation of the gastrocnemius muscle in the rabbit. Circulation. 1997 Sep 2;96(5):1641-6. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.96.5.1641.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Kharbanda RK, Mortensen UM, White PA, Kristiansen SB, Schmidt MR, Hoschtitzky JA, Vogel M, Sorensen K, Redington AN, MacAllister R. Transient limb ischemia induces remote ischemic preconditioning in vivo. Circulation. 2002 Dec 3;106(23):2881-3. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.0000043806.51912.9b.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 12460865 (View on PubMed)

Oxman T, Arad M, Klein R, Avazov N, Rabinowitz B. Limb ischemia preconditions the heart against reperfusion tachyarrhythmia. Am J Physiol. 1997 Oct;273(4):H1707-12. doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.1997.273.4.H1707.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

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Liang F, Liu S, Liu G, Liu H, Wang Q, Song B, Yao L. Remote ischaemic preconditioning versus no remote ischaemic preconditioning for vascular and endovascular surgical procedures. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023 Jan 16;1(1):CD008472. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008472.pub3.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 36645250 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

SAVES-123

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id