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Mechanisms and Management of Cardiac Arrhythmias

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Book cover Anesthesia, The Heart and the Vascular System

Part of the book series: Developments in Critical Care Medicine and Anesthesiology ((DCCA,volume 15))

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Abstract

This paper will deal with cardiac arrhythmias in the perioperative period, except for those associated with cardiac surgery. Although there were case reports concerning cardiac arrhythmias in the operating room as early as the 1900s (Levy and Lewis 1911–12), it was not until the past 10–20 years that large series of patients were studied to determine the incidence of arrhythmias. In 1962, Dodd and associates reported a 30% incidence of cardiac arrhythmias in 569 patients. It should be pointed out that in this study an oscilloscope was used and that permanent tracings were not made. Thus, it may be that a significant number of arrhythmias were missed. On the other hand, one can argue that if the duration of arrhythmia was so brief so as not to be noted, then the clinical significance is minimal. The arrhythmias which were observed were slow, super-ventricular rhythms (atrial rhythms, AV junctional rhythm, wandering pacemaker, sinus arrest with supra-ventricular escape beats). These occurred in 16% of the patients. Premature ventricular contractions were observed in 12.5% of the patients. The incidence of arrhythmias was higher in patients with heart disease than in those without, being 51% in the former and 20% in the latter. It is of interest that contrary to the clinical impressions of many people, there were no significant differences in the frequency fo arrhythmias with ether, nitrous oxide, halothane, cyclopropane, or spinal (tetracaine).

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  1. Ronald L. Katz
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, The University of Utah Medical School, Salt Lake City, USA

    Theodore H. Stanley MD  & W. Clayton Petty MD  & 

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© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht

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Katz, R.L. (1987). Mechanisms and Management of Cardiac Arrhythmias. In: Stanley, T.H., Petty, W.C. (eds) Anesthesia, The Heart and the Vascular System. Developments in Critical Care Medicine and Anesthesiology, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3295-1_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3295-1_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7979-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3295-1

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