ST segment changes following retinal surgery.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the perioperative cardiac morbidity in adult patients undergoing retinal surgery using continuous Holter monitoring.


METHODS
Prospective study.


METHODS
University hospital.


METHODS
56 patients scheduled for elective retinal surgery with local anesthesia.


METHODS
Patients were monitored continuously for 24 hours using a Holter recorder. Blood samples for creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and serum myocardial creatine phosphokinase (CPK-MB) were taken preoperatively and 24 hours postoperatively. The characteristics of myocardial ischemia were compared according to the number of risk factors for ischemic heart disease.


RESULTS
The overall incidence of perioperative myocardial ischemia was high: 26.7% (n = 15). These patients exhibited 41 episodes of ischemia with mean ST segment change from baseline of 2.2+/-0.7 mm. However, almost all (93.3%) ischemic episodes were silent. Patients with two risk factors or more had 77% more episodes of ischemia than patients with one risk factor (p < 0.005), and the duration of ischemia was 47+/-22.5 minutes compared with 34.8+/-27.5 minutes (p = NS). The first episode of ischemia occurred an average of 10 hours after surgery. No patient had intraoperative evidence of ischemia. Half of the ischemic episodes were associated with an increase in heart rate. No patient had evidence of acute myocardial infarction.


CONCLUSIONS
Retinal surgery with local anesthesia is accompanied by a high incidence of postoperative myocardial ischemia. No negative outcome was correlated to the occurrence of postoperative myocardial ischemia. The significance of these findings has yet to be evaluated.
Gozal
Y
Y
Department of Anesthesiology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, USA.
Drenger
B
B
Robertson
J E
JE
Davis
R F
RF
D000368:Aged; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012160:Retina / Q000601:surgery*; D012307:Risk Factors