Preoperative Diagnostic Assessment of Patients with Cardiovascular Risk Factors Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery: A 2025 Update

Abstract

Despite medical advances and increased perioperative testing, mortality and cardiovascular complications of noncardiac surgery (NCS) have hardly declined since the early 2000s. Studies demonstrate a disproportionate overutilization of preoperative diagnostic testing with a concurrent underutilization of interventions that have been shown to meaningfully modify mortality. Consequently, there has been a paradigm shift in the approach to perioperative testing. Current thinking advocates for a more judicious and individualized approach—that is, reserving noninvasive testing for select cases at highest risk of periprocedural cardiovascular events, where it may more effectively alter management. Thus, this review provides an update of the latest evidence-based recommendations on preoperative diagnostic assessment of patients with cardiovascular risk factors undergoing NCS, proposes a framework that can be referenced when approaching such a patient in clinical practice, and highlights areas that need more data to guide decision-making in clinical practice.