Effect of Delayed Remote Ischemic Preconditioning on Myocardial Injury (RIPC)

Ischemic preconditioning is one of the strategies that can reduce perioperative myocardial injury. It is a concept that briefly induced ischemia and reperfusion before the myocardial injury can reduce the myocardial injury. But it is difficult to apply ischemic preconditioning in operative field, because cross-clamping of aorta or coronary artery is difficult and invasive. Afterward concept of remote ischemic preconditioning(RIPC) has introduced that ischemia of remote organs like kidneys, skeletal muscles can reduce distant myocardial injury.

It is known that myocardial protective effect of ischemic preconditioning have biphasic pattern. Early protective effect wanes after a few hours, then recurs after 24-48 hours, and can persist for up to 3-4 days. It is called second window of preconditioning or delayed ischemic preconditioning. Delayed ischemic preconditioning is similar to early ischemic preconditioning in mechanism but it is different that it produces protein that can mediate myocardial protection effect.

Unlike ischemic preconditioning, it is little known about delayed effect of RIPC. RIPC can be done by applying compression cuff on upper or lower extremities and it is noninvasive and easy to deliver compared to ischemic preconditioning that is done by aorta or coronary artery clamping.

Delayed ischemic preconditioning is performed one day before the surgery, and it is safe and easy to apply RIPC in a clinical setting. And in this study investigators are going to evaluate cardioprotective effect of delayed RIPC. Myocardial injury can be predicted by elevation of cardiac enzyme. Investigators are going to perform RIPC one day before the valve replacement surgery and compare troponin I with control group to assess cardioprotective effect of delayed RIPC.