Active clinical trials for "Reperfusion Injury"

Ischemic injury to muscular tissue is common in cardiovascular medicine. The most effective treatment to avoid ischemic damage is the rapid re-establishment of reperfusion. However, reperfusion itself can result in additional damage to ischemic tissue. This phenomenon is called ischemia - reperfusion (IR) injury and is caused by different pathologic mechanisms. Therapies are required which can be administered after the onset of an ischemic event to protect the tissue against IR injury. Therefore, a promising strategy to reduce IR injury is post-conditioning. Likewise, pharmacological therapies administered after the onset of reperfusion might prevent tissue injury. We have recently shown that high concentrations of exogenous vitamin C abrogate experimental IR injury of the forearm vasculature in patients with peripheral artery disease and in healthy subjects. Study hypothesis We hypothesize that the administration of mechanical post-conditioning or of high-dose vitamin C may protect skeletal muscle against IR injury. This shall be studied employing MR spectroscopy of the leg, which is an established model to assess muscle aerobic energy metabolism. Design Three periods, three way cross over study in 10 volunteers. One screening visit, three one-day study days with two washout periods of >3 days in between are scheduled for each participant. The order of experimental days will be randomized. After the last treatment a final follow-up examination will be performed within one week.

In this study, advanced techniques of myocardial nuclear magnetic perfusion scanning were used to quantitatively assess infarct size after acute myocardial infarction, saved viable myocardium, and microcirculatory obstruction area. Objectively and quantitatively evaluate early use of cardiomyopeptidin for direct PCI of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. After the improvement of microcirculation and increase the intervention effect of viable myocardium.

Open-heart surgery causes injury of the heart muscle. Although this is usually mild, temporary and reversible, if it is severe it can endanger life and require additional high cost care. During surgery, techniques are used to protect the heart from injury, but these remain imperfect. Patients with a thickened wall of the heart (left ventricular hypertrophy) may be at greater risk. This study assesses the effect of facilitating sugar metabolism (a more efficient fuel) by the heart muscle using the drug Perhexiline given before the operation. This treatment has a sound experimental basis for improving outcome. If this improvement is confirmed surgical results could be improved. The investigators will be studying heart function, heart muscle energy stores and chemicals which quantify the amount of heart muscle injury. The investigators' hypothesis is that Perhexiline will improve the protection of the heart by decreasing damage that may occur during heart surgery.

The restoration of normal blood flow following a period of ischemia may result in ischemia / reperfusion injury (I/RI), which is characterized by inflammation and oxidative damage to tissues. Varying degrees of I/RI occur upon reperfusion of a donor heart after cold storage. Medications containing antibodies against immune cells have been used for many years as powerful immunosuppressants. These medications, called polyclonal antibody preparations, are generally only used immediately following transplantation and/or to treat rejection. At our institution, one such antibody preparation (Thymoglobulin) is used in most pediatric heart transplant recipients for 3-5 days immediately after transplantation. Because standard immunosuppressive medications (called calcineurin inhibitors) are toxic to the kidneys, the use of Thymoglobulin allows us to delay the initiation of calcineurin inhibitors until the kidneys of completely recovered from the shock of the transplant surgery. We hypothesize that Thymoglobulin may be beneficial in reducing the damage caused by I/RI. Thus, the present study seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of an intra-operative dose of Thymoglobulin (in addition to the standard doses post-operatively) at reducing the effects of I/RI. The study will be a double-bind placebo-controlled trial involving 20 subjects. Biologic markers for I/RI will be assessed at periodic intervals for six months post-transplantation. Subjects receiving intra-operative doses of Thymoglobulin will be compared to the controls in order to assess the effectiveness of intra-operative Thymoglobulin in ameliorating the effects of I/RI.

Post-reperfusion syndrome and ischemia-reperfusion insult are a common well-known complication in liver transplantation. Several trials investigated variables that my contribute to the generation of these two complications for reducing their incidence and magnitude. The investigators will investigate the effect of acute conditioning of the recipients circulation to the vasoactive mediators in the graft as well as the congested intestine through intermittent purging of graft contents into the patient's systemic circulation in living donor liver transplantation.

A former study (submitted) in 32 severely asphyxiated infants participating in a randomized double blind study, in which early postnatal allopurinol or a placebo (within 4 hours after birth) was administered to reduce free radical formation and consequently reperfusion/reoxygenation injury to the newborn brain, showed an unaltered high mortality and no clinically relevant improvement in morbidity in infants treated with allopurinol. It was hypothesized that postnatal allopurinol treatment started too late to reduce reperfusion-induced free radical surge and that initiating allopurinol treatment of the fetus with (imminent) hypoxia already via the mother during labor will be more effective to reduce free radical-induced post-asphyxial brain damage.

Sevoflurane preconditioning and cardiovascular protection against ischemia/reperfusion injury. Study hypothesis: The volatile anesthetic sevoflurane at subanesthetic concentrations achieves endothelial protection against ischemia/reperfusion injury and reduces inflammatory markers in the circulation

Angina is caused by narrowings or blockages within coronary arteries. Coronary angioplasty and stenting is performed for people with angina to improve the blood supply to the heart by placing metal tubes within the artery using balloon inflation. The procedure risks small but significant damage to the heart muscle downstream of the balloon. Glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP 1) is a naturally occurring hormone secreted by cells in the gut in response to food. It acts by stimulating the release of insulin. In the heart it acts to increase glucose uptake into cardiac muscle. GLP-1 can protect the heart and improve heart muscle performance in people with coronary artery disease in physiological studies. This study which assesses whether GLP-1 protects the heart during coronary angioplasty and stenting. The hypothesis is that GLP-1 given during elective coronary angioplasty and stenting will reduce cardiac troponin rise (a measure of heart muscle damage) compared to placebo.

The purpose of this study is to determine if anti-thymocyte globulin (Thymoglobuline) administration in the kidney transplant recipient is able to reduce the amount of damage that kidneys transplanted from deceased donors sustains on reperfusion.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of normothermic machine perfusion in liver transplantation using grafts of brain death donors older or equal than 70 years