Remote Ischemic Conditioning for Cerebral Ischemia in Patients With Takayasu Arteritis (TARIC-1)

The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of remote ischemic conditioning ( RIC ) in the protection of cerebral ischemia in patients with Takayasu arteritis ( TAK ). The study was designed as a prospective, double-blind, exploratory randomized controlled study. The entire study included a screening period and a treatment observation period ( a total of 24 weeks ). All patients with cerebral ischemia of TAK will be randomly divided into RIC group and sham RIC group at 1:1 ratio. On the basis of receiving the conventional drug therapy, the patients will be treated with RIC or sham RIC treatment twice daily for six month. The clinical data of patients at baseline and each follow-up will be collected, including basic information, disease activity assessment, laboratory indicators, imaging indicators, treatment data, adverse events, etc.The Primary outcome is the mean cerebral blood flow improvement rate ( mCBF-IR ) of TAK patients after 24 weeks-treatment. Secondary endpoints include the incidence of major adverse cerebrovascular events ( MACE ) , the change value of arterial transit time ( ATT ) in pCASL hypoperfusion area compared with baseline, occurrence of RIC-related adverse reactions, the changes of hematological indexes and disease activity score, etc. This study will provide insights into the preliminary proof of principle, safety, and efficacy of RIC in cerebral ischemia in patients with Takayasu arteritis ( TAK ), and this data will provide parameters for future larger scale clinical trials if efficacious.