Postoperative care for the adult cardiac surgery patient

Abstract

The postoperative management of cardiac surgery patients is complicated and requires insight into the physiologic disturbances that are common in this population. Furthermore, conditions change in the immediate perioperative period as the patient recovers from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). In order to ensure stability through this transition, the critical-care team must have a sound understanding of cardiopulmonary physiology, pathophysiology, clinical sequelae of cardiopulmonary bypass, and consequences of intraoperative decisions and their management in the cardiac intensive care unit (ICU). In this brief chapter, targeted at the anesthesia trainee, we discuss the standard management of the postoperative cardiac surgical patient.