Cardiac anaesthesia

Review

Despite advances in interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery on the coronary vessels and aortic valve continues to provide vital operations that help thousands of patients live a full life every day. In order to ensure the best result of this procedure, a thorough pre-operative patient preparation, maximum concentration during the procedure and professional care in the intensive care unit are required. The algorithm on a concrete example of a patient with aortic stenosis and critical ischemic heart disease clearly shows the decisive points in the perioperative care of the cardiac surgery patient. A pragmatic approach to the selection of preoperative examinations is highlighted, followed by important aspects in anesthesia care for the patient on extracorporeal circulation. It is necessary to remember that various forms of anesthesia techniques are also possible with cardiac anesthesia in other disciplines. More importantly, the interplay of all team members, compliance with internal standard procedures, and a common tactic for critical events. The presented algorithm describes very importantly vital events during anesthesia care of cardiac surgery and represents their structured solutions.