Accumulating safety data for remote ischemic conditioning in acute pediatric neurological conditions

Abstract

Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) is the most common infection-triggered encephalopathy in East Asian children and one for which existing neuroprotective strategies are limited. Despite the use of therapeutic hypothermia (TH) or targeted temperature management, lasting neurological deficits in children with AESD are common. 1 , 2 In this context, Kawano and colleagues present the first prospective evaluation of remote ischemic postconditioning (RIPoC) (also termed remote ischemic conditioning (RIC)) as an adjunct to TH in children with AESD, demonstrating that the approach is safe and feasible in a pediatric brain disorder not primarily driven by ischemia-reperfusion injury. 3