Reperfusion Injury

It is interesting phenomenon when reperfusion actually causes further damage in an ischemic area of the body. Compartment syndrome can certainly be caused by reperfusion. However, it is not the only reperfusion injury that can occur. Reperfusion injuries occur in detorsed testicular torsions, and they occur from not only anatomical disruptions, but also from the change in biochemistry within the tissues. Reperfusion injuries are an unfortunate complication after treating testicular torsion, and recent studies have found free oxygen radicals to be the culprits of these injuries (Tuglu et al., 2016). Tuglu et al. (2016) conducted a study to see if three different medications could be used to reduce the severity of a reperfusion injury based on the three medications’ antioxidant attributes. The medications used were dexmedetomidine, udenafil citrate, and piracetam. The authors tested their hypothesis on rats with detorsion of testicular torsion, and they found reduced oxidative injuries in all three intervention groups with the most
(2017) investigated the protective impact of erythropoietin and sildenafil against reperfusion injuries in laboratory rats with corrected testicular torsion. The authors believed erythropoietin could benefit those at risk of a reperfusion injury from corrected testicular torsion by erythropoietin’s impact on erythrocyte survival by reducing apoptosis. Sildenafil is a vasoactive medication that has been shown to significantly reduce reperfusion injury to other bodily tissues in other animal studies. The study confirmed that both erythropoietin and sildenafil have protective properties in testicular tissue against reperfusion injuries by extending the life of an erythrocyte and by reducing cellular injury (Kostakis et al., 2017). Therefore, sildenafil and erythropoietin may be viable options in the future for those at risk of a reperfusion injury secondary to corrected testicular