Anesthesia Key

Key Points 1. Patients with severe cardiovascular disease and those undergoing surgery associated with rapid hemodynamic changes should be adequately monitored at all times. 2. Standard monitoring for cardiac surgery…

Key Points 1. Ischemia during the perioperative period demands immediate attention by the anesthesiologist. 2. Nitroglycerin is indicated in most cases of perioperative myocardial ischemia. Mechanisms of action include coronary…

Key Points 1. The rapid development of molecular biologic and genetic techniques has greatly expanded the understanding of cardiac functioning, and these techniques are beginning to be applied clinically. 2….

Key Points 1. In patients, the observed acute effect of a specific anesthetic agent on the cardiovascular system represents the net effect on the myocardium, coronary blood flow (CBF), and…

Key Points 1. To care for patients with coronary artery disease in the perioperative period safely, the clinician must understand how the coronary circulation functions in health and disease. 2….

Key Points 1. The cartilaginous skeleton, myocardial fiber orientation, valves, blood supply, and conduction system of the heart determine its mechanical capabilities and limitations. 2. The cardiac myocyte is engineered…

Key Points 1. Cardiac arrhythmias are common and result from an ectopic focus or a reentry circuit. 2. Surgical and catheter-based ablative therapies can abolish the origins of arrhythmias by…

Key Points 1. The cardiac catheterization laboratory has evolved from a purely diagnostic facility to a therapeutic one in which many facets of cardiovascular disease can be effectively modified or…

Key Points 1. Multivariate modeling has been used to develop risk indices that focus on preoperative variables, intraoperative variables, or both. 2. Key predictors of perioperative risk are dependent on…