Anesthesia Management in Echocardiography-Guided Percutaneous Interventions for Structural Heart Disease

Abstract

Echocardiography-guided percutaneous interventions for structural heart disease can be carried out in normal operating rooms, hybrid operating rooms, or catheter laboratories meeting infection control criteria. In order to facilitate the smooth progress of interventions, sedation or general anesthesia is required for patients, to relieve their discomfort or pain during percutaneous interventions. Safe and efficacious peri-procedural management of anesthesia requires anesthesiologists, who have mastered anesthetic techniques in both children and adults, because the patients involved can be either children or adults. Since the procedure may have to be converted into minimally invasive surgery or traditional cardiovascular surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, trained cardiac anesthesiologists, who are familiar with the pathophysiology of structural heart disease and procedural details of intervention, are required. In addition, it is the responsibility of the anesthesiologists to monitor and maintain stable vital signs of patients. Ideal anesthesia management translates to post-intervention transfer of patients in the best possible status to regular wards or intensive care units.