Active clinical trials for "Reperfusion Injury"

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with cardiopulmonary bypass is a common surgical therapy for patients suffering from coronary artery diseases. The heart is subjected to a long period of ischemia due to the occlusion of the aorta. The heavy burden of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) thus induces cardiomyocyte death, which can paradoxically reduce the beneficial effect of CABG. Preconditioning by moderate hypoxia or hyperoxia serves as an effective drug-free method to increase the organism's resistance to negative effects, including IRI.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether upper limb ischemic postconditioning can improve renal function and decrease ischemic-reperfusion injury in patients undergoing living donor kidney transplantation.

The purpose of this study is to establish the safety of the combined drug approach (anti-thrombin III, infliximab, apotransferrin, human recombinant erythropoietin beta, C1-inhibitor, glutathione, alfa-tocopherol, melatonin and epoprostenol)aimed to reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury during liver transplantation in eligible recipients.

Study hypothesis: N-acetylcysteine (NAC) can reduce ischemia/reperfusion injury in liver resection performed under ischemic preconditioning and intermittent portal triad clamping.

Liver transplantation is the gold standard treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease. Despite its outstanding success, liver transplantation still entails certain complications including ischemia-reperfusion injury. Remote ischemic preconditioning is a novel and simple therapeutic method to lessen the harmful effects of ischemia-reperfusion injury, however, the majority of remote ischemic preconditioning studies on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury have been animal studies. Therefore, our aim was to assess the effects of remote ischemic preconditioning on postoperative liver function in living donor hepatectomy.

The purpose of this study is to find out if a drug called valproic acid (VPA) will protect organs (like the kidneys) from harmful effects caused by the temporary drop and then rise of blood flow and oxygen (called ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injury that sometimes happens during liver transplant surgery. VPA is an approved drug for treating conditions such as seizures and migraines for many years. However, it is not approved for use at the higher dose that will be used in this study or for protecting organs from I/R injury. This study will enroll liver transplant patients and randomly assign them to receive either VPA diluted in salt water or salt water without VPA (placebo) and then follow the patients and compare their organ function and overall outcome. This study is masked meaning that the patients, doctors, and nurses will not know which patient received which treatment. The study treatment will be given in addition to the care that liver transplant patients normally receive. The researchers doing this study believe that VPA will lessen organ injury caused by I/R, meaning that patients who receive VPA will experience less kidney injury when compared to patients who receive the placebo.

The objective of the present study is to determine whether intermittent hypoxia protects against ischemia-reperfusion injury in young and older healthy individuals. The investigators hypothesize that intermittent hypoxia will attenuate the reduction in flow-mediated dilation following ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Rationale: Apart from their cholesterol lowering effects, statins have cholesterol-independent pleiotropic actions, such as upregulation of 5'-ectonucleotidase and up-regulation of NO-synthase that may increase tolerance against ischemia-reperfusion injury (IR-injury). Several animal studies have shown reduction of IR-injury as a result of statin treatment in both the heart and the kidney. Recently the investigators have shown, using Annexin A5 targeting after voluntary ischemic exercise to assess IR-injury, a protective effect of a 7 day oral rosuvastatin treatment. A three day treatment with atorvastatin however failed to reduce annexin targeting. Assessment of the flow mediated dilation of the brachial artery as measure of endothelial (dys)function, is a validated model to research effects of possible protective strategies and perform mechanistic experiments on IR-injury in humans in vivo. The investigators hypothesize that pretreatment with statins can increase endothelial tolerance against ischemia and reperfusion injury. Objective: To study the protective effect of pretreatment (both 3 day and 7 day) with rosuvastatin and atorvastatin on flow mediated dilation after 15 minutes ischemia and 15 minutes reperfusion. Study design: placebo-controlled randomised double-blind trial Study population: Healthy volunteers, age 18-50 Intervention: Treatment with either rosuvastatin 20 mg, atorvastatin 80mg or placebo during either 3 or 7 days Main study parameters: Difference in flow mediated dilation before and after 15 minutes ischemia. Nature and extent of the burden and risks associated with participation, benefit and group relatedness: Treatment with rosuvastatin or atorvastatin is not expected to harm the volunteers. Most reported side effects of rosuvastatin and atorvastatin are gastro-intestinal complains and myalgia. The volunteers will not benefit directly from participating in this study.

Rationale: Due to western lifestyle human coronary arteries are prone to develop atherosclerotic plaques. Hence the heart is an important target organ for atherothrombotic complications: myocardial ischemia, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction and heart failure. To alleviate symptoms and decrease mortality in these patients, myocardial revascularisation is recommended. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is indicated in patients with severe atherosclerotic disease of all three coronary arteries or the left main stem coronary artery. Cardiac ischemia and reperfusion injury during CABG is inevitable and jointly accountable for complications that occur after CABG (e.g. death, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, stroke, or renal complications). Dipyridamole has been shown to reduce ischemia reperfusion injury in healthy volunteers using an intermediate endpoint and may prevent cardiovascular death or event in secondary prevention after cerebrovascular disease. The investigators hypothesise that oral pre-treatment with dipyridamole can increase cardiac tissue tolerance against ischemia and reperfusion injury due to CABG. The investigators expect lower troponin-I release in patients who were pretreated with dipyridamole. Objective: To study the effect of oral pretreatment with dipyridamole on high sensitivity (HS)-troponin-I release after CABG. Secondary objectives are whether oral pretreatment with dipyridamole reduces postoperative CABG arrhythmias, prolonged inotropic support, and duration of Intensive Care-stay. Further secondary endpoints are the effects of dipyridamole pretreatment on renal injury and post-ischemic recovery of contractile function (measured ex-vivo). Hypothesis: The investigators hypothesize that oral pre-treatment with dipyridamole can increase cardiac tissue tolerance against ischemia and reperfusion injury. The investigators expect lower HS-troponin-I release in patients who were pretreated with dipyridamole. Additionally the investigators expect the incidence of arrhythmias, need for prolonged inotropic support (longer than 24 hours postoperative) to be decreased in pretreated patients.

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning(RIPC) and remote ischemic postconditioning(RIPoC) seems to have a protective effect during ischemic period. Using cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB) during open heart surgery reduces pulmonary blood flow and may cause ischemic damage to lung tissue. The investigators anticipate that RIPC and RIPoC may reduce lung injury after CPB.