Management of cardiac patients for non-cardiac surgery.
Patients with cardiac diseases undergoing non-cardiac surgery experience more perioperative problems than the others. The prevention of these problems includes proper preoperative evaluation of patients, careful intraoperative management and postoperative surveillance.  Preoperative examination of such patients, including echocardiography if necessary, is crucial. The need for preoperative medication (e.g. beta-blockers, statins) ought to be carefully considered.  Intraoperative management requires goal-directed haemodynamic monitoring and therapy as well as proper fluid infusion. There are no data confirming the superiority of general over regional anaesthesia in such patients. However, lower incidence of pulmonary complications and lower mortality rates were observed after regional blocks.
The Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Department of Thoracic Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Trondheim, Norway. olav.sellenvold@ntnu.no
Olav
O
Münter Sellevold
Roar
R
Stenseth
D000758:Anesthesia / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007430:Intraoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000517:prevention & control; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D011292:Premedication / Q000379:methods; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*
D000777:Anesthetics