Heart patients may find this news to be of some relevance to them. An upcoming field of study wants to observe whether applying a blood-pressure cuff or other techniques of ‘training the brain’ may aid in decreasing impairment from a stroke attack while a patient is being taken to the hospital.
Ischemic preconditioning has apparently been examined as a means to reduce damaging consequences of diminished blood flow to the heart and liver, in addition to a possible way to enhance performance among competing swimmers. The objective of preconditioning is to train the brain to bear decreased blood flow devoid of permanent damage.
Dr. Brian Silver, M.D., a Henry Ford Hospital neurologist and stroke specialist, commented, “Ischemic preconditioning is a novel technique for potentially improving tissue survival following acute stroke. Human trials in a variety of conditions, including stroke, are underway to assess the efficacy and safety of this intervention.”
Ischemic preconditioning could be an intervention whereby a drop of blood supply to an organ may be used so as to generate forbearance to decreased blood supply in that organ or a remote organ. The intervention apparently must not manufacture tissue damage when used but has to pressure the organ so that it may adjust in to a lesser level of blood supply.
The National Institutes of Health states around 53 human studies of ischemic preconditioning to date, majority of them targeting conditions other than stroke.
In a current study in Denmark, Dr. Silver mentioned that blood-pressure cuff could be inflated above the patient’s standard pressure for five minutes, then discharged for a five-minute rest period. This procedure is duplicated around 4 times. The ischemic intervention is apparently applied to the arm with the objective of curtailing impairment arising in the brain.