Surgery, gynecology & obstetrics
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Surg Gynecol Obstet · Nov 1988
Surveillance for postoperative myocardial infarction after noncardiac operations.
Patients with postoperative myocardial infarction are frequently asymptomatic. Several follow-up strategies have been used to detect infarction or ischemia in asymptomatic patients. Different investigators have used quite different criteria to define patients at high risk. ⋯ Several criteria for defining a high risk population were evaluated, including type of operation, age, history of cardiac disease, Goldman's cardiac risk classification and the results of the preoperative ECG. Monitoring of patients with an abnormal preoperative ECG would have identified 88 per cent of the patients with postoperative myocardial infarction and 63 per cent of the patients with definite ischemia. Goldman's risk class identified patients with a normal ECG who were at higher risk for postoperative ischemia.