RIC as an Adjunct Therapy for Severe COVID-19 Disease: a Prospective Randomized Pilot Study

This research aims to assess the use of an experimental and non-invasive procedure, Remote Ischemic Conditioning (RIC), as an adjunct therapy in attenuating severe COVID-19 disease. An excessive and counterproductive systemic inflammatory response is thought to be a major cause of severe disease and death in patients with COVID-19. Severe ICU cases frequently have markedly higher levels of inflammatory markers such as CRP, IL-6, IL and TNF-a; which is thought to be correlated with increasing disease severity. The relationship between dysregulated inflammatory processes and disease states such as acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are well understood. ALI is characterized by an acute exaggerated mononuclear/neutrophilic inflammatory response followed by progressive collagen deposition in the lung, and if severe enough, may progress to ARDS requiring ventilation.