Organ protection with intravenous agents

Myocardial protection by pre-conditioning involves increasing the tolerance to ischaemia-reperfusion injury and can be achieved by either mechanical or pharmacological means. Pre-conditioning involves the therapeutic manoeuvre being applied before the start of ischaemia while post-conditioning applies the manoeuvre after the start of ischaemia. The initial method for achieving myocardial protection by pre-conditioning was to subject the heart to brief ischaemic episodes by occluding the coronary arteries. This was interspersed with reperfusion before prolonged ischaemia was begun. Benefi ts of this technique included decreases infarct size, reduced post-ischaemic myocardial dysfunction and decreased frequency of arrhythmias.