Clinical trial · Interventional
Effect of Remote Ischaemic Conditioning in Oncology Patients
A Single Centre Double-blinded Randomized Placebo Controlled Pilot Study Investigating the Effect of Remote Ischaemic preConditioning in ONCology Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy (ERIC-ONC)
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Cancer survival has improved steadily due to earlier detection and treatment. Despite the established efficacy of anthracycline chemotherapy, its damaging effects on the heart (cardiotoxicity) limits treatment and confers acute and long term adverse cardiovascular consequences. Protective strategies for the heart (cardioprotection) with iron binders (chelation), heart rate (beta blockade) and blood pressure (renin angiotensin inhibition) medications have demonstrated promise in adult cancer patients, but these treatments are typically prescribed only after significant changes in heart chamber size and pumping ability are detected by imaging investigations (myocardial dysfunction). Furthermore, these conventional therapies are constrained by important side effects that affect bone marrow, blood pressure, and the kidneys. Remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) protects the heart by activating cell survival pathways through brief repeated inflations and deflations of a blood pressure cuff to limit blood flow temporarily (noninjurious ischaemia). These innate survival mechanisms prevent part of the cellular injury that occurs during the ischaemia reperfusion cascade during a heart attack (myocardial infarction). Ischaemia reperfusion injury also shares common biochemical pathways with anthracycline cardiotoxicity, and thus RIC may be a novel form of nonpharmacological cardioprotection that can be applied when undergoing anthracycline chemotherapy. The investigators propose a pilot single centre randomised controlled trial to investigate the effect of RIC on reducing heart muscle damage (myocardial injury) in anthracycline-treated cancer patients. The investigators will assess subclinical myocardial injury using high-sensitivity blood tests (troponin T levels) and advanced imaging techniques, monitor heart rhythm disturbances (cardiac arrhythmia) and analyse metabolic changes in urine and blood during chemotherapy, at specified time points, and follow up to 5 years after completing chemotherapy treatment).
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardiotoxicity | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Placebo | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Remote Ischaemic Conditioning | Procedure | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Remote ischaemic conditioning
- description
- Remote ischaemic conditioning in the form of a blood pressure cuff on upper arm inflated upto 200 mm Hg (or systolic BP + 20 mm Hg if low platelets e.g. 50-150 x10\^9/L, skip remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) if platelets \< 50 x 10\^9/L) for 5 minutes, then deflated to 0 mm Hg for 5 minutes, for 4 cycles before beginning of chemotherapy infusion. The entire pre-conditioning phase will last 40 minutes.
- interventionNames
- Procedure: Remote Ischaemic Conditioning
- type
- PLACEBO_COMPARATOR
- label
- Control
- description
- Blood pressure cuff on upper arm inflated to 10 mm Hg for 5 minutes, then deflated to 0 mm Hg for 5 minutes, for 4 cycles before beginning of chemotherapy infusion. The entire control comparator will last 40 minutes
- interventionNames
- Other: Placebo
Primary outcomes (1)
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 16 Years
- Maximum age
- 80 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Adult or teenage young adult cancer patients with capacity * Anthracycline-regimen chemotherapy (de novo or re-challenge) * Able to tolerate peripheral blood pressure arm cuff inflation Exclusion Criteria: * Recent myocardial infarction in previous 4 weeks * previous diagnosis of dilated, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, amyloid or Anderson-Fabry Disease * peripheral vascular disease * Chronic Kidney Disease (estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) \< 30 ml/min) * Taking sulphonylureas * lymph node dissection patients will need BP cuff on contra-lateral arm * Skip remote ischaemic conditioning (RIC) cycle if very low platelets (e.g. platelets \< 50 x 10\^9/L, can have RIC when platelet counts recover, as per protocol).
References
Publications (8)
- BACKGROUNDCandilio L, Malik A, Ariti C, Barnard M, Di Salvo C, Lawrence D, Hayward M, Yap J, Roberts N, Sheikh A, Kolvekar S, Hausenloy DJ, Yellon DM. Effect of remote ischaemic preconditioning on clinical outcomes in patients undergoing cardiac bypass surgery: a randomised controlled clinical trial. Heart. 2015 Feb;101(3):185-92. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2014-306178. Epub 2014 Sep 24. PMID 25252696
- BACKGROUNDWhite SK, Frohlich GM, Sado DM, Maestrini V, Fontana M, Treibel TA, Tehrani S, Flett AS, Meier P, Ariti C, Davies JR, Moon JC, Yellon DM, Hausenloy DJ. Remote ischemic conditioning reduces myocardial infarct size and edema in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. JACC Cardiovasc Interv. 2015 Jan;8(1 Pt B):178-188. doi: 10.1016/j.jcin.2014.05.015. Epub 2014 Sep 17. PMID 25240548
- BACKGROUNDSloth AD, Schmidt MR, Munk K, Kharbanda RK, Redington AN, Schmidt M, Pedersen L, Sorensen HT, Botker HE; CONDI Investigators. Improved long-term clinical outcomes in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing remote ischaemic conditioning as an adjunct to primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Eur Heart J. 2014 Jan;35(3):168-75. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/eht369. Epub 2013 Sep 12. PMID 24031025
- BACKGROUNDBotker HE, Kharbanda R, Schmidt MR, Bottcher M, Kaltoft AK, Terkelsen CJ, Munk K, Andersen NH, Hansen TM, Trautner S, Lassen JF, Christiansen EH, Krusell LR, Kristensen SD, Thuesen L, Nielsen SS, Rehling M, Sorensen HT, Redington AN, Nielsen TT. Remote ischaemic conditioning before hospital admission, as a complement to angioplasty, and effect on myocardial salvage in patients with acute myocardial infarction: a randomised trial. Lancet. 2010 Feb 27;375(9716):727-34. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)62001-8. PMID 20189026
- BACKGROUNDHausenloy DJ, Mwamure PK, Venugopal V, Harris J, Barnard M, Grundy E, Ashley E, Vichare S, Di Salvo C, Kolvekar S, Hayward M, Keogh B, MacAllister RJ, Yellon DM. Effect of remote ischaemic preconditioning on myocardial injury in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2007 Aug 18;370(9587):575-9. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61296-3.