Focused transthoracic echocardiography predicts perioperative cardiovascular morbidity

The aim of this study was to assess the risk and predictive value of cardiac pathology detected on an anesthesiologist-performed focused transthoracic echocardiogram with adverse cardiac outcomes in the perioperative period.

A retrospective review of 222 patients having a focused transthoracic echocardiogram and evaluating the incidence and echocardiographic risk factors associated with perioperative adverse cardiac events.

A single tertiary referral university teaching hospital.

Two hundred twenty patients who had a focused transthoracic echocardiogram performed by an anesthesiologist.

All patients who had a focused transthoracic echocardiogram had their discharge summary and any perioperative troponin levels reviewed, looking for evidence of adverse cardiac events, including cardiac death before discharge, myocardial infarction, pulmonary edema, hypotension requiring vasoactive drug infusion, or new arrhythmia.

Data were collected on the 222 patients who had an anesthesiologist-performed focused transthoracic echocardiogram, with 39 (18%) having an adverse cardiac event. There were 24 (11%) myocardial infarctions, 6 (2.7%) new arrhythmias, 5 (2.3%) deaths, and 4 (1.8%) episodes of severe hypotension. High-risk pathology detected on echocardiography included adverse cardiac events in 64% of the patients with pulmonary hypertension, 56% of the patients with left or right ventricular dysfunction, and 17% of the patients with stenotic valvular disease. In particular, patients with a combination of pulmonary hypertension, ventricular dysfunction, and/or stenotic valvular disease had a 77% risk of an adverse cardiac event. In contrast, no patients with a completely normal study, flow murmur, or isolated regurgitant valvular disease had adverse cardiac events.

Anesthesiologist-performed focused transthoracic echocardiography predicts perioperative adverse cardiac events in noncardiac surgical patients.