Remote Ischemic Preconditioning in ACS Patients

Remote ischemic preconditioning is a process of serial blood pressure cuff inflations and deflations that are performed prior to a procedure and have been shown in various other areas (coronary bypass surgery, vascular surgery, ST elevation myocardial infarctions) to decrease the rates of adverse events related to ischemic burden and renal injury. This procedure has not yet been studied in the population presenting with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS), even though ACS patients represent the majority of patients seen in the catheterization lab. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of this simple and safe procedure in this particular population.