Ischaemic preconditioning attenuates haemodynamic response and lipid peroxidation in lower-extremity surgery with unilateral pneumatic tourniquet application: a clinical pilot study.

Introduction: The harmful effects of ischaemia-reperfusion on skeletal muscle during extremity surgery can be diminished by using medications or ischaemic preconditioning

Methods: Twenty patients undergoing lower-limb surgery with use of a tourniquet for at least 1 hour were included in the study and randomised into two groups: a control group with only tourniquet application (T group; n=10); and an ischaemic preconditioning plus tourniquet group (IP-T group; n=10). Blood samples were obtained from the femoral vein of the relevant extremity before tourniquet application (baseline), immediately after tourniquet deflation (TD), at 10 minutes after the tourniquet deflation (TD(10min)) in the T group and additionally after ischaemic preconditioning in the IP-T group. Venous blood pH, partial oxygen pressure (P(vO2)), partial carbon dioxide pressure (P(vCO2)), lactate, potassium, sodium and glucose levels were analysed using a blood gas analyser.