title: The yield of routine pre-operative cardiovascular evaluation in stable patients scheduled for elective non-cardiac surgery.
abstract: Preoperative cardiovascular evaluation is commonly performed in patients scheduled for non-cardiac surgery. The recent ACC/AHA guidelines provide an algorithm for such an evaluation but whether all patients scheduled for surgery would benefit from it is not known. We determined the yield of preoperative cardiovascular evaluation in 522 stable patients, with no prior history of heart disease, who were scheduled for elective non-cardiac surgery. There were 14 patients (2.7%) in which the cardiac consultant requested further testing pre-operatively, and in 5 of them (1%), the findings on cardiac consultation and further testing would be considered to have impacted the decision on performing the surgery or the long term outcome of the patients. Using multivariable logistic regression analysis, the only clinical variable predictive of further testing was age > 65 years (OR = 4.47, p = 0.001). The yield of preoperative cardiovascular evaluation in stable patients scheduled for non-cardiac surgery is relatively low. Further studies are needed to identify what subgroup of patients might benefit most from it and those in whom it might not be warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Lebanon. Electronic address: hd01@aub.edu.lb.
authors.forename: Habib A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Dakik
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Semaan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kobrossi
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Hani
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamim
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000592:standards*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Clinical guidelines; Noncardiac surgery; Preoperative cardiovascular evaluation