Diseases of the thoracic and abdominal aorta Aneurysms, dissections, and occlusive disease are the main pathologies that can affect arterial vessels. Whereas occlusive disease is more likely to occur in peripheral arteries, the aorta and its major branches are affected…
Introduction Pericardial diseases have a varied clinical presentation, ranging from chronic or subacute to acute and potentially life threatening. These pathologies often present urgently to the operating room, and their perioperative management poses unique challenges for the anesthesiologist. The hemodynamic…
Heart failure Definition The ability of the left ventricle to function as one of the body’s two main pumping chambers depends on how efficiently it ejects and subsequently fills with oxygenated blood. This implicit duality indicates that heart failure may…
Systemic hypertension In 2017, the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) redefined hypertension as a sustained systolic blood pressure above 130 mm Hg and/or a diastolic pressure above 80 mm Hg. This new definition arose in response to the…
Introduction The development of the modern-day electrocardiogram (ECG) started with the recognition by scientists that the electric currents regulating the heart could be detected at the surface of the skin. In the late 1800s Willem Einthoven built a machine called…
Congenital heart disease (CHD) occurs in approximately 4 to 10 cases per 1000 live births. These numbers do not include bicuspid aortic valves, which would double or triple the incidence. Overall, CHD accounts for approximately a third of all congenital…
Introduction The burden of valvular heart disease in developed countries is steadily increasing with current estimates of an overall prevalence of 2.5% in the United States who have moderate or severe valvular disease, increasing to 13% prevalence in those older…
The prevalence of ischemic heart disease and atherosclerotic vascular disease in the United States increases significantly with age ( Fig. 5.1 ). By some estimates, 30% of patients who undergo surgery annually in the United States have ischemic heart disease.…
Critical illness has been documented since the beginning of recorded history, an inherent component of the human experience. However, critical care is a recent development made possible by the technical and scientific advances of the 20th century. If the whole…
The perioperative management of patients with restrictive lung disease presents unique challenges to the anesthesiologist. Although these patients are at increased risk of perioperative respiratory complications with all surgeries, their incidence is higher in patients undergoing cardiac, thoracic, vascular, and…