title: Preoperative evaluation of patients with, or at risk of, coronary artery disease undergoing non-cardiac surgery.
abstract: The increasing number of patients with coronary artery disease undergoing major non-cardiac surgery justifies guidelines concerning preoperative evaluation, stress testing, coronary angiography, and revascularization. A review of the recent literature shows that stress testing should be limited to patients with suspicion of a myocardium at risk of ischaemia, and coronary angiography to situations where revascularization can improve long-term survival. Recent data have shown that any event in the coronary circulation, be it new ischaemia, infarction, or revascularization, induces a high-risk period of 6 weeks, and an intermediate-risk period of 3 months. A 3-month minimum delay is therefore indicated before performing non-cardiac surgery after myocardial infarction or revascularization. However, this delay may be too long if an urgent surgical procedure is requested, as for instance with rapidly spreading tumours, impending aneurysm rupture, infections requiring drainage, or bone fractures. It is then appropriate to use perioperative beta-block, which reduces the cardiac complication rate in patients with, or at risk of, coronary artery disease. The objective of this review is to offer a comprehensive algorithm to help clinicians in the preoperative assessment of patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Division of Cardiology and Department of Anaesthesiology, University Hospital Lausanne (CHUV), CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: P-G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Chassot
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delabays
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Spahn
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications*; D048909:Diabetes Complications; D025401:Echocardiography, Stress; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000150:complications; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000150:complications; D009204:Myocardial Revascularization / Q000009:adverse effects; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists