Prevention of Myocardial Injury in Non-cardiac Surgery

The remote ischemic preconditioning procedure is carried out immediately after the induction of regional or general anesthesia. The blood pressure cuff is placed on the upper limb. The cuff is inflated to 200 mmHg resulting in a total occlusion of the blood flow to the limb. After 5 minutes of ischemia the cuff is deflated and the limb is reperfused for 5 minutes. The procedure is carried out 4 times in a row. For patients with systolic blood pressures \>185 mmHg, the cuff will be inflated to at least 15 mmHg above the patient's systolic blood pressure.