Inhibition of post-ischaemic inflammation as a therapeutic approach to myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury

Reperfusion injury of the heart remains an untreated condition even though reperfusion strategies have been successfully implemented in the clinical standard. Accordingly, low or no reflow phenomena with subsequent myocardial infarction, myocardial and endothelial stunning as well as arrhythmias remain aspects of reperfusion injury of the heart. Since leukocyte recruitment has been linked to these phenomena, inhibition of leukocyte adhesion and of the subsequent post-ischaemic inflammation of the heart has emerged as a therapeutic goal. Around 40 patents from 1997 to the first quarter of 2000 are implicitly or explicitly aimed at myocardial reperfusion injury.