Monitoring and perioperative intervention in the postoperative patient with heart disease

The perioperative care of patients with preexisting cardiac disease is smoothest and easiest when preoperative assessment has identified patients at risk, and when such patients are invasively and intensively monitored in the postoperative period. Using real-time measurements of cardiovascular functions permits the physician to rationally decide on a course of drug support. Several clinical situations are presented in order to illustrate the relevance of these measurements for the management of the patient.