Distanct ischemic postconditioning in acute mild to moderate ischemic stroke: A randomized clinical study

Distant ischemic postconditioning (DIPC) has been confirmed to have a neuroprotective effect in animal models of ischemia. However, there are only a few studies on its efficacy and safety in clinical applications.We divided 86 patients with acute non-cardiogenic mild to moderate cerebral infarction into DIPC and control groups.After 7 days of using different pressure DIPC therapies, the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores on the eighth day significantly decreased, and modified Rankin scale significantly increased in the DIPC group, compared to that before treatment. On the eight day of admission, the decrease in the NIHSS scores significantly differed between the two groups. However, there was no change in the early neurological deterioration and platelet aggregation rates between the two groups on the eighth day.These results demonstrate that DIPC can safely and effectively improve neurological deficits in acute stages of mild to moderate cerebral infarction without affecting the efficacy of antiplatelet drugs.