| Abstract: | Achieving surgical revascularization of the heart, while avoiding the insult of cardiopulmonary bypass, is particularly desirable in specific high-risk patient groups. The relatively recent advances in surgical technique allowing high-quality grafting without mechanical arrest have led to an increase in popularity of off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. Nonetheless, operating on the beating heart, manipulating it and purposely inducing ischaemia, invariably has significant haemodynamic consequences which must be carefully yet aggressively managed. To compound the situation, the intraoperative monitoring typically employed to evaluate cardiac function, such as electrocardiography and echocardiography, are of limited efficacy at crucial moments in the procedure. It is therefore essential that the anaesthetist is able to assimilate information from a multitude of sources in order to safely navigate the patient through a period of continually changing cardiovascular stress. |
