Anaesthesia for non-cardiac surgery in a cardiac transplant recipient

Abstract

Cardiac transplantation has become the standard therapy for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and end-stage ischaemic heart disease. With the introduction of newer immunosuppressants, together with better patient selection, improved perioperative monitoring and care, the overall survival of recipients has improved. An increasing number of patients who received a transplant present for either elective or emergency non-cardiac surgery. We hereby discuss the perioperative management of such a patient who came to our set-up for bipolar haemiarthroplasty.

Keywords

• Anaesthesia
• cardiac transplant
• graft function
• immunosuppressants
• non-cardiac surgery