Perioperative diastolic dysfunction during vascular surgery and its association with postoperative outcome

Objective To assess the association of perioperative cardiac dysfunction during elective vascular surgery with postoperative outcome. Background Patients with normal systolic function can have isolated diastolic dysfunction. Routine preoperative evaluation of left ventricular (LV) function does not include an assessment of diastolic function for risk stratification. We hypothesized that perioperative assessment of both diastolic and systolic function with transesophageal echo (TEE) may improve our ability to predict postoperative outcome. Methods Perioperative TEE examinations were carried out on patients undergoing elective vascular surgery under general anesthesia. Abnormal systolic function was defined as LV ejection fraction (LVEF)