Treatment and prevention of remote ischemia-reperfusion injury

1. A method of ameliorating and/or reducing remote ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), comprising administering an effective dose of a contact activation system inhibitor to an individual in need thereof before, during, and/or after a surgical intervention involving reperfusion,

wherein the contact activation system inhibitor is a C1 esterase inhibitor (C1INH),

wherein the amino acid sequence of C1INH is the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1,

wherein the C1INH is administered to the individual at a dose ranging from 20 to 100 IU/kg body weight,

and wherein the individual is a human.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the contact activation system inhibitor is administered parenterally to the individual.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the contact activation system inhibitor is administered intravenously, intraarterially, or subcutaneously to the individual.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the contact activation system inhibitor is administered to the individual up to 6 hours before the surgical intervention or the start of reperfusion.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the contact activation system inhibitor is administered to the individual within 72 hours after termination of the surgical intervention or the start of reperfusion.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the surgical intervention is chosen from (a) elective surgery, reconstructive surgery, vascular surgery, cardiac surgery, trauma surgery, crash or crush surgery, cancer surgery, orthopedic surgery, transplantation, and minimally invasive surgery, or

or the surgical intervention is chosen from (b) surgical intervention following onset of an initial thrombotic or thromboembolic or another ischemia-inducing disorder, insertion of a device for delivery of pharmacologically active substances, insertion of a device for mechanical removal of complete or partial obstructions, and injection of pharmaceutically active substances.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) affects one or more organs.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the one or more organs is chosen from lung, heart, brain, kidney, intestine, pancreas, liver, extremities, and limbs.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remote ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) would lead to multiorgan dysfunction syndrome or systemic inflammatory response syndrome in the absence of treatment.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the C1 INH is administered to the individual at a dose of 50 IU/kg.