BRAIN PROTECTION

Remote Ischemic Preconditioning Protects the Brain Against Injury After Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest -- Jensen et al. 123 (7): 714 -- Circulation

Very few studies genuinely excite. This is one of them.

I know that the study subjects were piglets but outcomes measured were comprehensive and multimodal - EEG, behaviour and histology and all were improved in the study group. In addition alot of what we know of the effect of hypothermic circulatory arrest in humans was derived from studies in pigs. So this could represent real progress.

I expect a study in children is already in planning. There are also translational opportunities to find out what is it that an ischaemic leg produces that is so beneficial to the brain.