The journal Lancet reported a study on adults in May using an unconventional way to limit the size of a heart attack using a conventional blood pressure cuff. This can reduce the amount of permanent heart muscle damage by up to one half, an international team of researchers co-ordinated from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children has found.

Although it goes by the rather unwieldy name “remote ischemic pre-conditioning”, the technique, developed by a doctor at Sick Kids, is exquisitely simple, cheap, non-invasive and safe.

It involves inflating a standard blood pressure cuff on the upper arm of someone having a heart attack for five minutes, and deflating it for another five minutes, repeating the cycle four times.

The procedure exploits the most powerful, inborn protective mechanism the human body uses to protect its tissues from harm.

Cutting off blood flow in the arm in short, brief bursts, then restoring it again, causes the body to release a substance in the blood that sends a message around the entire body that something bad is about to happen. It warns and protects the heart from subsequent damage by triggering changes in heart cells so that they can better resist the lack of blood flow.

It also makes white blood cells react less aggressively, causing less damage after the heart attack. Find out more, including a link to the Lancet paper, at: HEART SISTERS:

http://www.myheartsisters.org/2010/05/02/remote-ischemic-preconditioning/

cheers,
Carolyn Thomas