PREOPERATIVE ASSESSMENT OF PATIENTS WITH CARDIAC DISEASE UNDERGOING NONCARDIAC SURGERY

Assessment and management of patients with pulmonary disease

OBJECTIVE

Often, the critically ill are not optimized in terms of their chronic diseases and are with little physiologic reserves.

DATA SOURCES

This article contains a review of the pathophysiology of the major preexisting and chronic pulmonary disease encountered in the critically ill, such as asthma, emphysematous disease, and chronic bronchitis. It also includes a summary of other significant disease processes such as acute respiratory disease syndrome, cigarette smoking, and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis and the implications of obesity and obstructive sleep apnea. When confronted with critical illness, the morbidity is magnified. Close observation of patients for evidence that the underlying disease may complicate their pulmonary status, and vice versa, creates an environment where the whole patient can heal and recover from illness.

CONCLUSION

The aim of the intensive care unit team should be recognition of the patient at risk, use of necessary therapies (i.e., bronchodilators) as early as feasible, and treatment titrated to realistic endpoints as the acute illness progresses and subsequently resolves.

The use of a questionnaire and simple exercise test in the preoperative assessment of vascular surgery patients

We aimed to assess the reliability of patients as historians in terms of the self assessment of functional capacity and also examined the usefulness of a simple ward exercise tolerance test. One hundred consecutive elective vascular surgery patients were interviewed preoperatively using a modified Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) questionnaire. To test reliability in reference to an independent observer, the questionnaire concerning the patient was also applied to each patient's closest relative who was blinded to the patient's responses. Patients were then asked to walk up two flights of stairs and the time taken to complete the task or the reason for failing to complete the task was recorded. The D

Cardiac risk stratification for postmyocardial infarction dental patients

Traditional dental management guidelines of myocardial infarction survivors mandate a 6-month waiting period before elective treatment can be considered. Technological advances in cardiac disease diagnosis, management, and revascularization treatment may make this older mandatory 6-month waiting period obsolete. The purposes of this literature review are to provide an overview of the historical development of cardiac risk stratification and discuss current developments and guidelines in cardiac risk assessment. We hope that this review and update will stimulate the development of updated dental guidelines for treating the cardiac patient.