Cardiac Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Before Elective Major Vascular Surgery (CRIPES)

Center for Veterans Research and Education

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 2; Phase 1

Conditions: Peripheral Arterial Disease

Treatments: Other: Control; Other: Ischemic preconditioning

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01403337

411652941

Details and patient eligibility

About

Vascular surgery is considered a high-risk operation with an anticipated risk of major cardiovascular complications in excess of 5%. The occurrence of a cardiovascular complication after surgery carries a long-term higher mortality risk. The main objective of this investigation is to reduce the proportion of patients having major cardiovascular complications during surgery through a clinical protocol of remote preconditioning that is safe, effective and reproducible.

Enrollment: 205 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Eligible patients would be those undergoing elective major vascular surgery at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center for an expanding abdominal aortic aneurysm, obstructive carotid disease, and/or chronic limb ischemia during the study period. All patients must be ≥ 18 years of age and provide written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Exclusion criteria include hypertensive crisis, acute coronary syndrome in the preceding 6 weeks, severe valvular heart disease, peripheral arterial disease of the upper extremities, manifested by a systolic blood pressure difference greater than 20 mmHg, pregnant women, patients unable to understand the consent process due to mental illness, advanced malignancy with limited life expectancy (<1 year), and hemodialysis with a fistula in the upper extremity.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

205 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Blood pressure cuff inflated in the right or left arm to 40-50 mmHg

Treatment:

Other: Control

Preconditioning

Active Comparator group

Description:

The RIPC protocol will consist of three cycles of the following: 5-minute inflation of a blood pressure cuff around the right upper arm to 200 mmHg (or 20 above the systolic blood pressure if baseline BP \> 200 mmHg) to allow for external compression of the brachial artery resulting in transient arm ischemia, followed by a 5-minute interval of cuff deflation to allow for reperfusion. The total duration of the protocol is 30 minutes equally divided between ischemia and reperfusion. The protocol is to be applied in the patient room the morning of the operation.

Treatment:

Other: Ischemic preconditioning