Introduction—the need for cardioprotection

Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Despite current therapies, patients still experience significant morbidity and mortality when undergoing cardiac bypass surgery or when presenting with an ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). This is partly attributed to the detrimental effects of acute ischaemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) on the heart, which in combination mediate cardiomyocyte death, resulting in impaired LV systolic function and increased risk of heart failure. Although a number of strategies exist for reducing the ischaemic component of acute IRI injury in cardiac bypass surgery (such as cardioplegia and hypothermia) and STEMI (such as prompt reperfusion with primary percutaneous intervention—PPCI), paradoxically, reperfusing previously ischaemic myocardium leads to further cardiomyocyte death—termed ‘myocardial reperfusion injury’ and for which there is currently no effective therapy. Therefore, novel therapeutic interventions are required to protect the heart from acute IRI in these clinical settings in order to improve clinical outcomes. In this regard, ‘ischaemic conditioning’, in which the heart is rendered tolerant to acute IRI by subjecting it to cycles of brief ischaemia and reperfusion, provides an endogenous form of cardioprotection. In this article, we review the role for ischaemic conditioning as a …