[Anesthetic management of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy undergoing non-cardiac surgery]

There is little information on the perioperative management of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) undergoing non-cardiac surgery. The presence of a history or signs of heart failure and un-diagnosed DCM preoperatively, may be associated with an increased risk during non-cardiac surgery. In these patients, preoperative assessment of LV function, including echocardiography, and assessment of an individual's capacity to perform a spectrum of common daily tasks may be recommended to quantify the severity of systolic function. It is important to prevent low cardiac output and arrhythmia for the perioperative management of patients with DCM. Sympathetic hyperactivity often causes atrial or ventricular tachyarrhythmia, which could worsen systemic hemodynamics in these patients. In particular, the prevention of life-threatening arrhythmia, such as, ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation is important. To prevent perioperative low output syndrome, inotropic support, using catecholamines or phosphodiesterase inhibitors with or without vasodilators should be performed under careful monitoring. It is desirable to use a pulmonary-artery catheter during moderate to high risk surgery, because the optimum level of left ventricular pre-load is very narrow in these patients. Every effort must be made to detect postoperative heart failure by careful monitoring, including PAC, and physical examination.