title: Preoperative cardiac evaluation.
abstract: The current standards for preoperative cardiac evaluation and the guidelines published by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association call for noninvasive or invasive cardiac evaluation in certain patients. Perioperative use of beta-adrenergic blockade has been shown to reduce cardiac complication rates, diminishing the positive predictive value and the likelihood ratio of a positive result of a preoperative cardiac test,unfavorably shifting the risk to benefit ratio of preoperative tests and any possible therapeutic action that one might take based on the test. A new paradigm might be emerging that makes cardiac tests unnecessary except in the highest-risk patients identified by clinical variables.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, Harvard Medical School, and Vascular Anesthesia, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 01890, USA. kpark@caregroup.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Kyung W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D006334:Heart Function Tests; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D009204:Myocardial Revascularization; D011300:Preoperative Care
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists