Current opinion in anaesthesiology
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This article reviews and summarizes the pathophysiology, risk factors, and the management of arrhythmias in patients undergoing noncardiac thoracic surgery. ⋯ Arrhythmias are common after thoracotomy. Physicians treating patients with postoperative arrhythmias should bear in mind that arrhythmia management does not only comprise a specific therapy for the arrhythmia itself, but also includes the correction of transient and correctable predisposing and causative factors.
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A major cause of hypoxemia in anesthesia is ventilation-perfusion (VA/Q) mismatch. With more advanced surgery and an aging population, monitoring of VA/Q is of increasing importance. ⋯ Methods are continuously developing to simplify measurement of VA/Q and also to relate VA/Q to inflammation. The recording of VA/Q has helped to explain important aspects of gas exchange in thoracic anesthesiology and in intensive care medicine.