Shutting off blood supply to an extremity to protect the heart

In a study, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, Norway have shown that shutting off the blood supply to an arm or leg before cardiac surgery protects the heart during the operation. The research group wanted to see how the muscle of the left chamber of the heart was affected by a technique, called RIPC (remote ischemic pre-conditioning), during cardiac surgery. RIPC works by shutting off the blood supply to an arm or a leg before heart surgery. The goal is to reduce risk during cardiac surgery in the future.
The technique is not new, but its effects have never before been tested directly on the left chamber of the heart.