Understanding ischemia-reperfusion injury is, at this moment, of paramount importance given the various pathological conditions in which it is the main substrate. It has an important role in the cardiovascular pathology as a major cause of overall morbidity and mortality, as well as in organ transplantation and some complications of surgery and anaesthesia. This thesis is composed of three parts. The first is focused on explaining the pathophysiological processes and mechanisms underlying the formation, development and treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury. Also, it describes some of the studies aimed at finding a treatment for ischemia-reperfusion injury and analyzes their results. The second part turns to the specific methods of treatment and prevention of ischemia-reperfusion injury, primarily the preconditioning. It presents the types of preconditioning, the hypotheses regarding the mechanism of this phenomenon, as well as laboratory and clinical studies that have been conducted during the years of research. Finally, the third part summarizes the first two, analyzes the possible shortcomings of clinical studies, and further describes the possible paths of future research on this topic.