Vascular surgery patients are exposed to the risk of secondary trauma, which arises on the basis of pathological changes caused first by ischemia and then by reperfusion. Ischemia-reperfusion syndrome due to oxidative stress and increased cell death contributes significantly to the high perioperative morbidity and mortality of these patients. In an attempt to reduce the negative impact of these processes, a number of measures have been developed, including the concept of remote ischemic preconditioning. Based on the analogy between the pathophysiology of ischemic preconditioning and sleep disordered breathing, we can hypothesize a smaller impact of ischemia-reperfusion changes in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.