Anaesthesia of the patient with cardiovascular disease part 1: risk assessment

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are relatively common in small animals, and practitioners are increasingly asked to anaesthetise these patients for either surgical or diagnostic procedures. In this first article, the cardiovascular physiology relevant for the anaesthetist will be briefly revised. The anaesthetic risk associated with the most commonly encountered CVD in dogs and cats, and its evaluation thorough diagnostic tests, will be reviewed. In the second article, the pathophysiology of the most commonly encountered CVD in dogs and cats will be reviewed, together with the cardiovascular effects of the most commonly used anaesthetic/analgesic drugs and haemodynamic goals of anaesthetic techniques, and monitoring of anaesthesia for the patient with CVD will be discussed briefly.