Perioperative beta-blockers in noncardiac surgery

INTRODUCTION: Cardiac complications after major noncardiac surgery are common and associated with high morbidity and mortality. How preoperative use of beta-blockers may impact perioperative cardiac complications remains unclear. METHODS: In a multicentre prospective cohort study, preoperative beta-blocker use was ascertained in consecutive patients at elevated cardiovascular risk undergoing major noncardiac surgery. Cardiac complications were prospectively monitored and centrally adjudicated by two independent experts...

BACKGROUND: Beta-blocker (BB) therapy plays a central role in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. An increasing number of patients with cardiovascular diseases undergoe noncardiac surgery, where opioids are an integral part of the anesthesiological management. There is evidence to suggest that short-term intravenous BB therapy may influence perioperative opioid requirements due to an assumed cross-talk between G-protein coupled beta-adrenergic and opioid receptors. Whether chronic BB therapy could also have an influence on perioperative opioid requirements is unclear...

BACKGROUND: Perioperative arrhythmias are common depending on the type of the operation and can increase morbidity and mortality. METHODS: This review is based on pertinent publications retrieved by a selective search in PubMed, as well as the relevant European guidelines. RESULTS: Arrhythmias are seen in more than 90% of cardiac operations; they are usually transient and often asymptomatic. The risk factors for arrhythmia include ion channel diseases, old age, structural heart disease, cardiac surgery, noncardiac surgery with major fluid shifts, and pulmonary resection...

Robotic major lung resection for lung cancer carries a risk for intraoperative hemodynamic instability. Systolic anterior motion (SAM) of the mitral valve is a rare and often misrecognized cause of intraoperative hemodynamic instability. If not promptly recognized, SAM leads to a complicated perioperative course. Here, we report for the first time a case of a patient with SAM with a severe degree of left ventricular outflow obstruction (LVOTO) undergoing robotic lung lobectomy and its challenging intraoperative management...

BACKGROUND: Myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery (MINS) is associated with increased postoperative mortality, but the relevant perioperative factors that contribute to the mortality of patients with MINS have not been fully evaluated. OBJECTIVE: To establish a comprehensive body of knowledge relating to patients with MINS, we researched the best performing predictive model based on machine learning algorithms. METHODS: Using clinical data from 7629 patients with MINS from the clinical data warehouse, we evaluated 8 machine learning algorithms for accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve, and area under the precision-recall curve to investigate the best model for predicting mortality...

BACKGROUND: The limited applicability of evidence from RCTs in real-word practice is considered a potential bottleneck for evidence-based practice but rarely systematically assessed. Using our failure to recruit patients into a perioperative beta-blocker trial, we set out to analyse the restrictiveness and generalisability of trial eligibility criteria in a real-world cohort. METHODS: We prospectively included adult patients (≥18 yr) scheduled for elective noncardiac surgery at an academic tertiary care facility who were screened for inclusion in a planned perioperative beta-blocker RCT, which was terminated owing to recruitment failure...

Liver transplantation (LT) has a 4-fold higher risk of periprocedural cardiac arrest and ventricular arrhythmias (CA/VAs) compared with other noncardiac surgeries. Prolongation of the corrected QT interval (QTc) is common in patients with liver cirrhosis. Whether it is associated with an increased risk of CA/VAs following LT is unclear. Rates of 30-day CA/VAs post-LT were assessed in consecutive adults undergoing LT between 2010 and 2017. Pretransplant QTc was measured by a cardiologist blinded to clinical outcomes...

Beta-adrenergic blockers (β-blockers) are clearly indicated for the long-term treatment of patients with systolic heart failure and post-acute myocardial infarction. Early small-scale studies reported their potential benefits for perioperative use; subsequent randomized controlled trials, however, failed to reproduce earlier findings. Furthermore, their role in reducing major postoperative cardiac events following noncardiac and cardiac surgery remains controversial. This case-based review presents an overview of contemporary literature on perioperative β-blocker use with a focus on data available since 2008 when the PreOperative ISchemic Evaluation (POISE) trial was published...

Because of new surgical techniques, advanced monitoring modalities and improvements in perioperative care, perioperative mortality and morbidity have been significantly reduced in the last decades; however, patients still suffer from high perioperative mortality and morbidity, especially those with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases. Not only perioperative myocardial infarction but also myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery, which presents without clinical symptoms, is associated with an adverse outcome...

BACKGROUND: Recent data suggest that beta blockers are associated with increased perioperative risk in hypertensive patients. We investigated whether beta blockers were associated with an increased risk in elderly patients with raised preoperative arterial blood pressure. METHODS: We conducted a propensity-score-matched cohort study of primary care data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink (2004-13), including 84 633 patients aged 65 yr or over. Conditional logistic regression models, including factors that were significantly associated with the outcome, were constructed for 30-day mortality after elective noncardiac surgery...

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine SBP changes during the perioperative period of a scheduled knee surgery under regional anesthesia and the extent of perioperative (in-hospital) white-coat effect. METHODS: All patients (aged ≥60 years) underwent clinic SBP measurements during both cardiological and anesthesiological visits, while home SBP the week before admission was obtained. Clinic SBP was registered just before surgery, during surgery and reanimation...

Based on landmark trials, international guidelines had for years promoted the use of beta-blockers in the setting of non-cardiac surgery. In 2011, concerns were raised regarding the integrity of some of the landmark trials, as the Dutch Erasmus Medical Center found some of them to be scientifically incorrect. Based on the remaining studies that were to be trusted, investigations showed that, in contrast to prior beliefs, the widespread use of perioperative beta-blockers might be harmful. A call for further investigations into the matter ushered in several observational studies evaluating the safety of perioperative beta-blocker therapy in specific patient subgroups...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Coronary artery event includes acute coronary syndrome (ACS), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Following such an event, risk of noncardiac surgery is increased. Of major concern is what can make this surgery safer? RECENT FINDINGS: High functional capacity improves cardiovascular (CV) risk; at least 4.0 metabolic equivalents (METs) on stress test are favorable. Risk scores can suggest need for further evaluation...

Several medications have been used perioperatively in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery in an attempt to improve outcomes. Antiplatelet therapy for primary prevention of cardiovascular events should generally be discontinued seven to 10 days before surgery to avoid increasing the risk of bleeding, unless the risk of a major adverse cardiac event exceeds the risk of bleeding. Antiplatelet therapy for secondary prevention should be continued perioperatively, except before procedures with very high bleeding risk, such as intracranial procedures...

IMPORTANCE: Recent publications report that perioperative initiation of statin therapy is associated with improved outcomes particularly among patients with increased cardiac risk. However, findings on associations with beta blocker (BB) initiation are mixed. OBJECTIVE: This study examines associations between perioperative statin and BB use in a national sample of patients with cardiac stents. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: VA Medical Centers nationwide...

BACKGROUND: Following evidence questioning the safety and efficacy of perioperative beta-blocker therapy in noncardiac surgery, the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) guidelines were retired in 2015. However, perioperative myocardial infarctions and cardiac complications remain leading causes of mortality following noncardiac surgery. The impact of the SCIP guidelines on reducing cardiac complications in patients undergoing elective total hip arthroplasty (THA) has not been evaluated...

BACKGROUND: Relevant clinical studies have been small and have not convincingly demonstrated whether the perioperative initiation of beta-blockers should be considered in patients with diabetes mellitus undergoing noncardiac surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this nationwide propensity score-matched study, we included patients with diabetes mellitus undergoing noncardiac surgery between 2000 and 2011 from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. Patients were classified as beta-blocker and non-beta-blocker cohorts...

Beta-blockade in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery has been widely recommended as a way to reduce cardiovascular adverse events during the perioperative period. However, studies have shown contradictory results. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening multiple databases, we identified 22 systematic reviews comprising 131 studies addressing the question of this article, including 112 randomized trials. We combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings following the GRADE approach...

The perioperative period is associated with alterations in the neuroendocrine, metabolic, and immune systems, referred to as "stress response." The resultant increased sympathetic activity and elevated serum concentrations of catecholamines may adversely affect the cardiovascular system, resulting in cardiovascular instability (hypertension, tachycardia, and arrhythmia), morbidity (myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction, and stroke), and mortality (cardiac death and fatal stroke), particularly in patients at an elevated cardiovascular risk and with reduced cardiovascular reserve...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: An increasing number of patients are presenting for major surgery with cardiovascular comorbidities. Evidence of myocardial injury was found in 8% of all noncardiac surgery patients older than 45 years and was associated with adverse outcome. For this reason, there has been a lot of interest in finding and evaluating effective cardioprotective interventions. RECENT FINDINGS: Current evidence suggests that statins, volatile anesthetic agents, and propofol are cardioprotective...