Prevention of cardiac arrest: the role of the anesthesiologist.

Many operating room deaths from "cardiac arrests" are potentially avoidable as well as potentially reversible. The incidence of these catastrophes may be substantially reduced by careful and adequate preoperative evaluation and preparation of the patient, by constant care and vigilance in the administration of anesthetic agents and adjuvants, and by close cooperation between members of the surgical team, with the safety of the patient being the first consideration at all times.