This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Taggart, P. Articles by Yellon, D. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Taggart, P. Articles by Yellon, D. M. Related Collections Arrythmias-basic studies CV surgery: other Arrhythmias, clinical electrophysiology, drugs Related Article

(Circulation. 2002;106:2999.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Preconditioning and Arrhythmias

Peter Taggart, MD, DSc, FRCP; Derek M. Yellon, DSc, Hon FRCP, FESC

From the Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Studies, University College London Hospital & Medical School, London, UK.

Correspondence to Professor D. M. Yellon, The Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Studies, Center for Cardiology, University College Hospital, Grafton Way, London, WC1E 6DB. E-mail d.yellon@ucl.ac.uk

Key Words: Editorials • arrhythmia • ischemia

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

A brief episode of myocardial ischemia confers endogenous cardioprotection during a subsequent prolonged period of ischemia. This phenomenon, known as preconditioning,¹ offers one of the most powerful mechanisms for reducing the speed and extent of myocardial cell damage resulting from an acute or sustained ischemic insult. This protection has been shown to occur in a wide variety of animal species, including man, and exists in two forms, namely an early or classic preconditioning¹ and delayed or second window of protection.² The "gold standard" used in these animal studies for assessing a preconditioning effect has been measurement of the extent of limitation of infarct size.³ Studies in humans therefore necessarily rely on a less direct approach.⁴ For example, clinical observation has shown that the occurrence of episodes of angina shortly before a myocardial infarction reduces mortality and morbidity.^4,5 In the setting of percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography, it has been shown that measures of ischemia, such as angina and ST elevation, in the ECG occurring during the period when the coronary artery is occluded by the inflated balloon are less during a second balloon inflation compared with the first.^6–8 These studies are not always easy to interpret, however, because of confounding variables such as uncertainties about the recruitment of collaterals in response to the preconditioning ischemia, the adequacy of the very short

See p 3091

duration of ischemia sometimes used during the preconditioning phase, and the use of the amount of ST segment shift in the ECG as a quantitative measure of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Ischemic Preconditioning Suppresses Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias After Myocardial Revascularization

Zhong-Kai Wu, Tiina Iivainen, Erkki Pehkonen, Jari Laurikka, and Matti R. Tarkka
Circulation 2002 106: 3091-3096. [Abstract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. J. Canyon and G. P. Dobson Pretreatment with an adenosine A1 receptor agonist and lidocaine: A possible alternative to myocardial ischemic preconditioning J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., August 1, 2005; 130(2): 371 - 377. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]