How We Would Treat Our Own Pulmonary Hypertension if We Needed to Undergo Cardiac Surgery

Abstract

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a disease that has many etiologies and is particularly prevalent in patients presenting for cardiac surgery, with which it is linked to poor outcomes. This manuscript is intended to provide a comprehensive review of the impact of PH on the perioperative management of patients who are undergoing cardiac surgery. The diagnosis of PH often involves a combination of noninvasive and invasive testing, whereas preoperative optimization frequently necessitates the use of specific medications that affect anesthetic management of these patients. The authors postulate that a thoughtful, multidisciplinary approach is required to deliver excellent perioperative care. Furthermore, they use an index case to illustrate the implications of managing a patient with pulmonary hypertension who presents for cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Keywords: anesthesia; cardiac surgery; cardiopulmonary bypass; perioperative management; pulmonary arterial hypertension; pulmonary hypertension.