Perioperative beta-blockers for preventing surgery-related mortality and morbidity

Abstract

For many patients any type of surgical invention can increase their stress response which can make the body vulnerable to untoward outcomes. An extreme consequence of the stress response is death with other responses including heart attacks and stroke, to impacting on the patients' postoperative reviver such as their psychological status and pain recovery. Therefore there is a need to consider the attenuation of the perioperative stress response through the use of drugs such as beta-blockers. These drugs have been shown to reduce the heart rate and lower the patients' blood pressure. Although this is a desired result in trying to eliminate the effects of the stress response it can also have the opposite effect on reducing the patients' blood pressure and pulse to a point where the patients suffers ill effects such as stroke or death. Therefore it is vital to understand the influence of beta-blockers and their ability to influence perioperative cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.