Figure 7.

Study design. Domestic pigs were randomized to treatment groups. The mid left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for 90 min via inflation of a percutaneous coronary balloon, interrupting the perfusion of the distal part of the coronary artery (blue color), while perfused parts of the artery are displayed in red color. After 90min occlusion, the balloon was deflated leading to reperfusion (red color). Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) was performed by three repetitive 5-min cycles of ischemia (blue color of distal coronary artery) /reperfusion (red color of coronary artery) (rI/R), whereas postconditioning (PostC) was elicited by six 30-s cycles of I/R. The animals were then allowed to recover and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) with late enhancement was performed 1 month after the procedure.