Abstract
Anesthetic management of patients undergoing descending aortic surgery is complex and challenging. Clear understanding of patient’s preoperative aortic disease and other comorbidities is important in planning intraoperative management. A preoperative visit is essential to evaluate the perioperative risk and explain the patient of possible complications. Rational planning for the anesthetic care is likely to also warrant review of relevant imaging studies, and often, face-to-face discussion with the surgeon regarding plans for surgical technique, with special attention paid to intended surgical exposure and cardiopulmonary bypass cannulation. Special anesthetic considerations include one-lung ventilation, airway, and hemodynamic and transfusion management. End-organ dysfunction such as stroke, spinal cord injury, myocardial ischemia, and renal failure accounts for morbidity and mortality in these patients. Intensive perioperative monitoring and measures should be undertaken to prevent the occurrence of such complications.
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Subramaniam, K., Caldwell, J.C. (2011). Anesthesia for Descending Aortic Surgery. In: Subramaniam, K., Park, K., Subramaniam, B. (eds) Anesthesia and Perioperative Care for Aortic Surgery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85922-4_10
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