In several recent clinical trials on cardiac surgery patients, remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) showed a powerful myocardial protective effect. However the effect of RIPC has not been studied in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery. We evaluated whether RIPC could induce myocardial protection in off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients. Patients undergoing elective off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery were randomly allocated to the RIPC (n = 65) or control group (n = 65). After induction of anaesthesia, RIPC was induced by four cycles of five-minute ischaemia and reperfusion on the upper limb using a pneumatic cuff. Anaesthesia was maintained with sevoflurane, remifentanil and vecuronium. Myocardial injury was assessed by troponin I before surgery and 1, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after surgery. There were no statistical differences in troponin I levels between RIPC and control groups (P = 0.172). Although RIPC reduced the total amount of troponin I (area under the curve of troponin increase) by 26%, it did not reach statistical significance (RIPC group 53.2 +/- 72.9 hours x ng/ml vs control group 67.4 +/- 97.7 hours x ng/ml, P = 0.281). In this study, RIPC by upper limb ischaemia reduced the postoperative myocardial enzyme elevation in off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients, but this did not reach statistical significance. Further study with a larger number of patients may be needed to fully evaluate the clinical effect of RIPC in off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery patients.