Chronic Remote Ischemic Conditioning in Small Infarctions Associated with Stent-assisted Coiling of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms (CRISIS)

February 10, 2025 updated by: Lu Hua, The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University

Chronic Remote Ischemic Conditioning in Small Infarctions Associated with Stent-assisted Coiling of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysms: a Single-center Randomized Controlled Trial.

  1. Disease Description Stent-assisted coiling has become an effective treatment modality for intracranial aneurysms. With continuous advancements in periprocedural antiplatelet regimens, the incidence of symptomatic thromboembolic events has significantly decreased. However, the rate of procedure-related microembolic infarctions, which are characterized by punctate hyperintense signals on DWI, remains high (10%-76.5%). The underlying causes of these microembolic infarctions remain controversial and may be associated with factors such as different stent types, sheath types, antiplatelet regimens, intraoperative adverse events (e.g., vascular dissection or spasm), patient age, and procedure duration. While most patients with microembolic infarctions exhibit no overt clinical symptoms, the presence of these infarctions reflects underlying tissue damage, posing potential risks that cannot be ignored. Furthermore, their occurrence highlights insufficient preoperative preparation or intraoperative technical issues, which may increase the likelihood of symptomatic embolism. Therefore, investigating the causes of microembolic infarctions and exploring preventive strategies is of great clinical significance.
  2. Intervention Description Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) involves inducing temporary ischemia in distal vessels to protect target vessels from ischemic and reperfusion injuries. RIC can be performed before, during, or after ischemic events and is widely used in the context of coronary artery ischemia. Some studies have shown that RIC can mitigate ischemia-related injuries in the myocardium, kidneys, and lower limbs following cardiovascular surgeries. Previous research has also demonstrated the neuroprotective effects of RIC in ischemia-reperfusion injuries of the nervous system. For instance, RIC significantly improves outcomes in cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD)-related acute stroke events and ameliorates cognitive impairments associated with CSVD. Moreover, the safety and efficacy of RIC have been validated in other conditions or procedures, such as aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis, and carotid artery stenting.
  3. Research Hypothesis Current clinical studies on RIC have primarily focused on acute ischemic stroke (including large artery atherosclerosis and CSVD), spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. The Remote Ischemic Conditioning for Acute Stroke Trial (RESIST) indicated that RIC effectively improves outcomes in acute strokes related to CSVD, including reducing white matter hyperintensities, infarct volume, and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores. A clinical study conducted at the Mayo Clinic demonstrated the safety of remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) during intracranial aneurysm coiling. Our center's previous study on "Tirofiban and Procedure-Related Microemboli in Stent-Assisted Aneurysm Coiling" revealed that the incidence of procedure-related microembolic infarctions was 61.1% in the non-tirofiban group and 19.4% in the tirofiban-treated group. However, there is currently a lack of research on the use of RIC for procedure-related microembolic infarctions in stent-assisted aneurysm coiling.

This study aims to explore the efficacy of ischemic conditioning treatment, performed preoperatively and postoperatively, in reducing procedure-related microembolic infarctions during standard stent-assisted aneurysm coiling. The primary outcomes include the incidence of acute microembolic infarctions postoperatively and the incidence of symptomatic microembolic infarctions at one month following RIC.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

84

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 1) Age 18-80; 2) Unruptured aneurysm with surgical indications; 3) Stent assisted aneurysm embolization; 4) Patients were willing to receive ischemic adaptation therapy.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • 1) Age < 18 years old; 2) Complicated with cerebrovascular malformations, moyamoya disease and other hemorrhagic cerebrovascular diseases or history; 3) pregnancy; 4) History of acute myocardial infarction within 1 month; 5) Peripheral vascular disease or peripheral neuropathy of the upper limb; 6) Upper limb vascular and soft tissue injury, or combined with limb deformity; 7) Severe subclavian artery stenosis or occlusion; 8) Poor blood pressure control, upper extremity basal systolic pressure ≥200mmHg; 9) Chronic kidney disease.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: RIC

All enrolled patients receive standard stent-assisted aneurysm coiling therapy（Patients are required to receive antiplatelet therapy for at least 3 days before the procedure, consisting of:Aspirin: 100 mg once daily, combined with Clopidogrel: 75 mg once daily, or Ticagrelor: 90 mg twice daily）.Depending on intraoperative and postoperative conditions, tirofiban is administered as follows: an initial bolus of 0.6 μg/kg over 3 minutes, followed by continuous intravenous infusion at 0.1 μg/kg/min for 18 hours.

Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is applied to the contralateral upper limb, consisting of 5 cycles per session, 2 sessions per day. Each cycle includes 5 minutes of ischemia followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion. The pressure used to occlude the brachial artery is set at 200 mmHg or exceeds baseline systolic pressure by 35 mmHg At least 4 sessions of actual RIC treatment before the procedure.Continued RIC treatment for a minimum of 4 weeks postoperatively.
Procedure: remote ischemic conditioning
Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is applied to the contralateral upper limb, consisting of 5 cycles per session, 2 sessions per day. Each cycle includes 5 minutes of ischemia followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion. The pressure used to occlude the brachial artery is set at 200 mmHg or exceeds baseline systolic pressure by 35 mmHg (intervention group).At least 4 sessions of actual RIC treatment before the procedure.Continued RIC treatment for a minimum of 4 weeks postoperatively.
Other Names:
  • RIC
Sham Comparator: sham

All enrolled patients receive standard stent-assisted aneurysm coiling therapy.（Patients are required to receive antiplatelet therapy for at least 3 days before the procedure, consisting of:Aspirin: 100 mg once daily, combined with Clopidogrel: 75 mg once daily, or Ticagrelor: 90 mg twice daily）.Depending on intraoperative and postoperative conditions, tirofiban is administered as follows: an initial bolus of 0.6 μg/kg over 3 minutes, followed by continuous intravenous infusion at 0.1 μg/kg/min for 18 hours.

Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is applied to the contralateral upper limb, consisting of 5 cycles per session, 2 sessions per day. Each cycle includes 5 minutes of ischemia followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion. The pressure used to occlude the brachial artery is set at 20 mmHg.

At least 4 sessions of sham RIC treatment before the procedure.Continued sham RIC treatment for a minimum of 4 weeks postoperatively.
Procedure: Sham treatment
Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is applied to the contralateral upper limb, consisting of 5 cycles per session, 2 sessions per day. Each cycle includes 5 minutes of ischemia followed by 5 minutes of reperfusion. The pressure used to occlude the brachial artery is set at 20 mmHg.At least 4 sessions of sham RIC treatment before the procedure.Continued sham RIC treatment for a minimum of 4 weeks postoperatively.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Efficacy of Remote Ischemic Conditioning (RIC) in Preventing Small Infarctions Associated with Stent-Assisted Aneurysm Coiling
Time Frame: Within 24 hours after the procedure,
Within 24 hours after the procedure, a brain MRI is performed to record the number and size of hyperintense signals on DWI. The trial group and control group are compared, and the efficacy is assessed based on statistical analysis results. If the mean number of hyperintense signals on DWI in the trial group is lower than that in the control group, with a statistically significant difference, the intervention is considered effective; otherwise, it is considered ineffective.
Within 24 hours after the procedure,

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Efficacy of Chronic Remote Ischemic Conditioning (RIC) in Treating Small Infarctions Associated with Stent-Assisted Aneurysm Coiling
Time Frame: One month after the procedure
One month after the procedure, a follow-up brain MRI is performed to evaluate the infarct area and number based on the size and number of hyperintense signals observed on DWI at 24 hours postoperatively. Additionally, the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is completed one month postoperatively. The trial group and control group are compared, and efficacy is assessed based on statistical analysis results. If the mean infarct area and number in the trial group are lower than those in the control group, with statistically significant differences, the intervention is considered effective; otherwise, it is deemed ineffective. Similarly, if the mRS score distribution in the trial group is lower than that in the control group, with statistically significant differences, the intervention is considered effective; otherwise, it is considered ineffective.
One month after the procedure

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
The incidence of thrombus formation or embolic events in the limb subjected to RIC in the intervention group.
Time Frame: 24 hours, 2 weeks, and 1 month postoperatively
Vascular ultrasound of the limb subjected to RIC will be performed at 24 hours, 2 weeks, and 1 month postoperatively to assess for thrombus formation or thromboembolism.
24 hours, 2 weeks, and 1 month postoperatively
The incidence of skin damage or bruising in the RIC group.
Time Frame: before surgery and 24 hours, 2 weeks, and 1 month postoperatively
before surgery and 24 hours, 2 weeks, and 1 month postoperatively

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

The First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

February 20, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 10, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2025

Last Verified

January 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • CRISIS

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Subscribe