The effects of remote ischaemic preconditioning on coronary artery function in patients with stable coronary artery disease.

"Conflict of interest There are no relevant conflicts of interest."

"Funding This work was supported by a Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland project grant award (R11/A136). D.C. is supported by a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Clinical Research Training Fellowship [FS/14/15/30661]. B.H. is supported by a BHF project grant [PG/14/97/31263]. P.McC. is supported by a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme (12/170/45). C.B. is supported by a BHF Centre of Research Excellence Award (RE/13/5/30177)."

"Patients undergoing elective invasive coronary angiography for investigation of stable CAD were enrolled and provided written informed consent. The study was approved by the National Research Ethics Service (reference /S0704/52). The ClinicalTrials.gov identifier is NCT02666235. Patients were eligible if, following initial coronary angiography, there was a main epicardial coronary artery suitable for coronary reactivity testing (either an angiographically normal coronary artery, or an artery with minimal plaque burden and without an epicardial diameter stenosis ≥ 40%). Exclusion criteria were MI < 2 weeks, previous coronary artery bypass grafting, second or third degree atrioventricular block, and inability to provide informed consent."