Table 3. Clinical outcomes at 30 days postoperatively.

	RIPC (n = 30)	Sham (n = 30)	Relative risk (95% CI)	P-value
Thromboembolic complications
Pulmonary embolism	2 (7%)	3 (10%)	0.67 [0.12;3.71]	1.0
Myocardial infarction	0	1 (3%)		1.0
Intraoperative bleeding
Estimated intraoperative bleeding (ml)	418 [276;560]	459 [353;564]		0.64
Intraoperative red blood cell transfusion	1 (3%)	2 (7%)	0.50 [0.05;5.22]	1.0
Intraoperative platelet transfusion	1 (3%)	0		1.0
Postoperative bleeding
Drainage (ml), median(IQR)	50 (20–100)	60 (25–120)		0.66
Postoperative red blood cell transfusion	9 (30%)	14 (47%)	0.64 [0.33;1.25]	0.29
Postoperative platelet transfusion	0	1 (3%)		1.0
Re-operation for hematoma	3 (10%)	6 (20%)	0.50 [0.14;1.82]	0.47
Mortality	1 (3%)	0		1.0

Categorical variables are shown as number of patients with frequencies and relative risk with 95% CI and P-values from Fischer’s exact test. Continuous variables are shown as mean with 95% CI or median with IQR and P-values from unpaired t-test. Postoperative drainage was measured until the first postoperative day at 06:30 AM.

Abbreviations: CI: confidence interval, IQR: interquartile range, n.a.: not available, RIPC: remote ischemic preconditioning.