Cardiac Assessment Flashcards
What is the goal of the cardiac pre-op assessment?
To identify patients with heart disease who are at high risk for perioperative cardiac morbidity or mortality or those with modifiable conditions or risk.
What are the 5 steps of the cardiac assessment?
- Step 1: Urgency of surgery
- Step 2: determine if active cardiac condition
- Step 3: determine surgical risk
- Step 4: assess functional capacity
- Step 5: assess clinical predictors/ markers
What is step 1 of the cardiac assessment?
urgency of surgery
What is step 2 of the cardiac assessment?
determine if active cardiac condition
What is step 3 of the cardiac assessment?
determine surgical risk
What is step 4 of the cardiac assessment?
assess functional capacity
What is step 5 of the cardiac assessment?
assess clinical predictors/ markers
Name the 6 MINOR clincal predictors of increased cardiac risk
- Uncontrolled HTN
- Advanced age > 75 years old
- Abnormal EKG
- Low functional capacity
- Hx. CVA
- Rhythm other than SR
If a patient has any of the minor clinical predictors of cardiac risk, is there an increase in perioperative risk?
Sometimes no, or only minor risk increase. These are indicators that there might be some underlying cardiac disease.
Name the 6 INTERMEDIATE clinical indicators of increased cardiovascular risk.
- Known CAD
- Prior MI >1 month and Q waves on EKG
- Hx. of mild, stable angina
- Compensated or previous LV failure/ CHF
- Diabetes Type 1 and 2
- CRI (cr>2.0mg/dL)
Name the 6 MAJOR clinical predictors of increased cardiac risk.
THese are active cardiac conditions
- Unstable coronary syndromes (active ischemia by EKG)
- Acute or recent MI < 1 month
- Unstable or severe angina
- Decompensated CHF
- Significant arrhythmias
- Severe valvular disease
What is meant by decompensated CHF?
CHF with active, current symptoms
What is meant by significant arrhythmia?
Arrhythmia that is associated with symptoms
Which valvular disease is the most concerning for intraoperative management?
Aortic stenosis
What is the overall mortality risk of acute MI after general anesthesia?
0.3%
Which 3 types of surgical procedures will cause an increased incidence of perioperative MI?
- intra-thoracic surgery
- intra-abdominal surgery
- surgery lasting more than 3 hours
If a patient has had an MI, but it was > 6 months ago, what is the incidence of perioperative MI?
about 6% (this data is on patients that have not been revascularized or stented)
If a patient has had an MI within 3-6 months of surgery, what is the incidence of perioperative MI?
15%
If a patient has had an MI within the past 3 months, what is the perioperative risk of MI?
30%
If patients who have had an MI suffer a reinfarction during the surgical procedure, what is the mortality rate?
50%
The highest risk period for perioperative MI in patients who have had a previous MI is:
within 30 days after acute MI
What are the AHA/ACC guidelines for patients undergoing elective surgery that have had a recent MI?
They should wait 4-6 weeks post MI before having elective surgery
Which types of surgeries put patients at high risk for perioperative MI? (list 5)
- aortic surgery
- other major vascular surgeries
- peripheral vascular surgery
- emergent major operations (esp. in elderly)
- prolonged procedures with large fluid shifts/ blood loss.
Which types of surgeries put patients at an intermediate risk of perioperative MI? (list 8)
- intraperiotoneal
- intrathoracic
- transplant
- carotid endarterectomy
- head and neck
- major neurologic
- major orthopedic
- endovascular aneurysm repair
A high risk surgery adds ___% of additional risk of morbidity or mortality.
5
Which types of surgeries or procedures put patients at a low risk of perioperative MI? (list 4)
- Endoscopic procedures
- superficial procedures
- biopsies
- cataracts
With low risk surgeries, what is the percentage of increased morbidity and mortality?
<1%
What are the 3 basic components of the pre-op cardiac assessment?
- History taking (including medications)
- Physical exam
- Resting 12 lead EKG (if indicated) within 30 days of surgery
List 7 adjunct tests you could order as part of a pre-operative cardiac assessment.
- CXR
- labs
- stress test
- echo
- MRI
- CT scan
- Coronary angiography
Which test is the gold standard for coronary anatomy?
coronary angiography
The goal of the history portion of the cardiac pre-operative assessment is to elicit what 3 things about the patients cardiac disease status?
- severity
- progression
- functional limitations
What are 4 questions to ask regarding cardiac history?
- Shortness of breath
- CHF
- MI
- Angina
How would you assess patients shortness of breath status?
Ask about orthopnea. Are you short of breath on exertion?
What questions should you ask to further explore if a patients reports a history of angina? (list 7)
- with activity or at rest
- chest pain/ pressure/ tightenss in the heart
- what precipitates it
- associated symptoms
- how frequently
- what is the duration when it occurs
- methods of relief
Are people who suffer from angina at a greater perioperative cardiac risk than people who do not?
Yes, they are much more at risk
Are post-menopausal women at greater risk for perioperative MI than pre-menopausal women?
Yes, estrogen will give some cardioprotection
What is a good way to assess a patient’s functional capacity?
By assessing their exercise tolerance
What is the most striking evidence of decreased cardiac reserve?
in the absence of lung disease, exercise intolerance is the most striking evidence.
What is the Duke Activity Status Index?
It assigns a MET score to patients. MET is a describing amount of energy consumption by an activity and comparing it to a baseline or expected amount of enegy consumption.
If a patient can do strenous exercise and sports like swimming, tennis, football and running, what would their METS score be?
>10
If a patient cannot do strenous exercise but can climb stairs, walk in their neighborhood, do heavy housework, bowl, golf, and dance, what would their METS score be?
4-10
If a patient can only do the basic things in daily living, like eat, dress themselves, walk around the house, do dishes, what would their METS score be?
1-4
Patients with which MET demand score are considered to be at a higher cardiac risk during surgery?
patients with 1-4 MET
What does angina tell us?
It is a sign of imbalance between myocardial oxygen supply vs. demand
Which type of patients may experience angina but have clear coronary arteries?
Patients with aortic stenosis
What is one thing that feels like angina but is not?
esphageal spasm caused by heartburn can feel like angina and is often relieved by NTG
Do ischemic episodes happen without causing angina?
Yes, up to 80% of ischemic episodes can happen in CAD patients without any pain. (silent)
What percentage of acute MIs are silent?
10-15%
2 types of patients get angina that do not have CAD. They have:
- esophageal spams or
- aortic stenosis
What is Printzmetal’s angina?
Vasospastic angina that occurs at rest
Do patients suffering Printzmetal’s angina actually have a coronary lesion?
Yes, 85% of them have a fixed proximal lesion in a coronary artery, however 15% of them just have a spasm.
Patients with Printzmetal’s angina have basic vasoactive disease, so they also see a higher incidence of what 2 other disease states?
- migraine headaches
- Raynaud’s disease
If my patient has a pacemaker or an ICD, what 5 things do I need to know about it?
- the indication for insertion
- the underlying rhythm and rate
- the type of pacer (demand, fixed, radio frequency)
- the chamber paced, the chamber sensed
- has the pacemaker/ defibrillator been interrogated by a qualified member of CIED
Do we need to evaluate the pacer in any way ourselves?
Yes, we should evaluate the effect of a magnet over the pacer.
What does a magnet do to a pacer when it is placed over it?
It turns of the sensing and puts the pacer into an automatic asynchronous mode.
Why would we want the pacer to be in an asynchronous mode during surgery?
We don’t want any artifical movement or activity to be sensed by the pacer as a patient’s intrinsic beat. With all of the electrical equipment in the room, it would be easy for activity to be sensed that does not belong to the patient. In response to this false sensing, a beat would not be generated by the pacer as it should be.
Do I need to do anything special to an AICD during surgery?
Yes, put a magnet over it to turn of tachyarrhythmia detection. Instead of using the AICD, we will place pacer pads on the patient so we can control the shocks.
Does an AICD or pacemaker need to be evaluated by EP before surgery?
An AICD/pacer should be evaluated within 3-6 months of surgery
How do we turn of an AICD?
EP has to do it. Then they can come back and turn it on again after surgery.
Why would a pacer not fire during surgery?
Electromagnetic interference can occur with electrocautery which can inhibit pacemaker firing
Why should you have a magnet immediately available for all patients with pacemakers?
Most pacemakers can be converted to a fixed rate (asynchronous mode) by placing a magnet over the pacemaker box in the chest.
Are there any special requirements when placing grounding pads on a patient with a pacemaker?
Place grounding pads as far away from the pulse generator and leads as possible.
What is the difference between bipolar electrocautery and monopolar electrocautery?
In bipolar electrocautery, the electricity travels back and forth like down the legs of tweezers. In monopolar electrocautery, the electricty travels straight through a straight line like a pencil. When it comes out it needs to find the grounding pads
Which type of electrocautery should be used in patients with pacemakers?
bipolar
In patients with a pacemaker, we should always monitor:
some type of blood flow, either from an aline or a pulse ox.
What should you always have available in paced patients, in case of pacemaker failure?
You should have an external pacer available
In the overall appearance portion of the cardiac assessment of the physical examination, what are some physical things you could be looking at?
- obesity
- shortness of breath
- sternal incision
- pacemaker box
When auscultating the heart, what are you listening for?
Heart sounds, murmurs
What are some things in the patient’s neck that would indicate cardiac disease?
- the presence of JVD
- carotid bruits