The purpose of this study is to determine whether remote ischemic conditioning can reduce cardiac death and hospitalization for heart failure at 12 months in patients presenting with a ST-elevation myocardial infarction and treated by percutaneous coronary intervention.

The CONDI2/ERIC-PPCI trial is a randomised controlled clinical trial investigating whether remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) can reduce cardiac death and hospitalization for heart failure at 12 months in 5400 patients presenting with a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI).

Inclusion criteria:

1. Onset of STEMI symptoms within 12 hours, lasting for more than 30 minutes
2. Patients older than 18 years
3. Suspected STEMI (ST-elevation at the J-point in two contiguous leads with the cutoff points: ≥0.2 millivolt (mV) in men or ≥0.15 mV in women in leads V2-V3 and/or ≥0.1 mV in other leads)

Exclusion criteria:

1. Previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery
2. Myocardial infarction within the previous 30 days
3. Treatment with thrombolysis within the previous 30 days
4. Left bundle branch block
5. Patients treated with therapeutic hypothermia
6. Conditions precluding use of RIC (paresis of upper limb, use of an a-v shunt)
7. Life expectancy of less than 1 year due to non-cardiac pathology