Improving morbidity and mortality after cardiac surgery.
Over the past three decades there has been an enormous increase in the number of cardiac operations, particularly on patients with coronary artery disease. Technical advances in cardiac surgery, anaesthesia, monitoring and intensive care would have been expected to reduce morbidity and mortality, but the incidence of complications has, in fact, increased. The increasing use of coronary angiography and the development of interventional cardiology have caused a change in the type of patients scheduled for surgery--they have become progressively older and sicker than in the 1970s. Consequently, the management of patients has to be revised regularly. Careful selection of patients, and the defining of specific strategies for anaesthetic and surgical management are required to improve the outlook for post-surgical complications.
Marty
J
J
Département d'Anesthésie-Réanimation, Hôpital Bichat, Paris, France.
D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D006801:Humans; D009017:Morbidity; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality