Anaesthesia and the cardiac patient: the patient versus the procedure

• Published in: Heart (British Cardiac Society) Vol. 87; no. 1; pp. 91 - 96
• Main Authors: Froehlich, James B, Eagle, Kim A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Cardiovascular Society 01-01-2002; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group Ltd; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; Copyright 2002 by Heart
• Subjects: Algorithms; anaesthesia; Anesthesia; Biological and medical sciences; Cardiac arrhythmia; Cardiac patients; Cardiology. Vascular system; Cardiovascular disease; Classification; Complications; Contraindications; coronary bypass surgery; Coronary heart disease; coronary revascularisation; Diabetes; Dosage and administration; Education in Heart; Health risk assessment; Heart; Heart attacks; Heart Diseases - complications; Heart failure; Hospitals; Humans; Intraoperative Complications - prevention & control; Medical sciences; Mortality; Patients; percutaneous coronary intervention; Regression analysis; Risk Factors; Studies; Surgery; Surgical outcomes; Vascular surgery; United Kingdom; Human; Cardiovascular disease; Anesthesia; Medical screening; Coronary heart disease; Surgery
• ISSN: 1355-6037; 1468-201X
• DOI: 10.1136/heart.87.1.91

For patients undergoing elective surgery, the most common cause of significant morbidity and mortality is occurrence of complications related to cardiac disease. 1 It is estimated that approximately one million patients undergoing surgery each year in the USA suffer a perioperative myocardial infarction. 1 This is particularly true for those with previous coronary disease and those facing higher risk surgery. Because of this fact, a great deal of research has focused on assessing cardiac risk before elective surgery. [...]recent studies have addressed the effectiveness of medications or interventions to decrease risk in high risk patients.