Arrhythmia in the Perioperative Period

Description

Cardiac arrhythmias are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the perioperative period. The incidence of intraoperative dysrhythmias depends on the definition, continuous surveillance versus casual observation, patient characteristics and the nature of surgery. Cardiac dysrhythmias are common during anesthesia and surgery and occur in patients with structural heart disease or normal hearts. The inciting or aggravating factor is often physiologic imbalance unique to perioperative settings (e.g., anesthetic or adjuvant drugs, adrenergic stress, acid‐base or electrolyte imbalance, hypoxia, hypercapnia). If so, it is important to correct or remove such imbalance.