Perioperative Management of Cardiac Disease

Pre-existing cardiac disease contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality amongst patients undergoing non cardiac surgery. Patients with pre-existing cardiac disease or with risk factors for it, have as much as a 3.9% risk of suffering a major perioperative cardiac event (Lee et al 1999, Devereaux 2005). Furthermore, the incidence of perioperative myocardial infarction (MI) is increased 10 to 50 fold in patients with previous coronary events (Jassal 2008).