Remote Ischemic Preconditioning for Subcortical Vascular Dementia

In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the investigators enrolled 52 participants aged 50-80 years. The participants had a diagnosis of subcortical vascular dementia at the neurology department of Tianjin medical university general hospital. Inclusion criteria included a clinical dementia rating 1-2; a mini-mental state examination score 15-26; and brain magnetic resonance imaging consistent with subcortical ischemic small vessel disease. All participants received standard medical management.Participants in the remote ischemic preconditioning group underwent 5 brief cycles consisting of bilateral upper limb ischemia followed by reperfusion. The remote ischemic precondition procedure was performed once daily over 180 consecutive days. Cognitive impairment assessment scale ( Hopkins Verbal Learning Test,HVLT;Symbol digital modalities tes,SDMT;judgement line orientation, JLO;trail making test A and B,TMT-A/B;chinese word fluency test;Activity of Daily Living Scale,ADL;Neuropsychiatric Inventory,NPI), serological inflammatory markers:hypersensitive C-reactive protein（hs-CRP）、plasma tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)、interleukin-1β(IL-1β)、interleukin-6 (IL-6)、α1-antichymotrypsin),and MRI diffusion tensor imaging, DTI were compared with the untreated control group.