Annals of cardiac anaesthesia
-
Acute kidney injury is a common complication after pediatric cardiac surgery. The definition, staging, risk factors, biomarkers and management of acute kidney injury in children is detailed in the following review article.
-
As millions of surgical procedures are performed worldwide on an aging population with multiple comorbidities, accurate and simple perioperative risk stratification is critical. The cardiac biomarker, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), has generated considerable interest as it is easy to obtain and appears to have powerful predictive and prognostic capabilities. ⋯ In addition, we examined the use of BNP in patients with pulmonary embolism and left ventricular assist devices. The available data strongly suggest that the addition of BNP to perioperative risk calculators is beneficial; however, whether this determination of risk will impact outcomes, remains to be seen.
-
Recently, evidence of cardio-protection and reduction in mortality due to the use of volatile agents during cardiac surgery led to an increase in their use during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). These findings seem to be enhanced when the volatile agents are used during all the surgical procedure, including the CPB period. ⋯ While waiting for industry upgrades, we recommend that volatile agents should be used during CPB only by skilled perfusionists and physicians with the aim to reduce postoperative morbidity and mortality.