Coronary Circulation

Description

When caring for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), the Anesthesiologist must prevent or minimize myocardial ischemia by maintaining optimal conditions for perfusion of the heart. This goal can be achieved only with an understanding of normal coronary blood flow and the various factors that alters it. Clearly, no single control mechanism exerts a predominant effect and these control mechanisms are not uniformly distributed throughout the coronary  circulation. Thus, it is important to consider all  segments of the coronary vasculature and the coordination of these segments into a vascular network when considering  coronary artery disease coming for surgery.