AANA Journal course: Update for nurse anesthetists--Part 4--preoperative cardiac evaluation.

This AANA Journal course discusses the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) guideline on perioperative cardiovascular evaluation for noncardiac surgery. The intent of the ACC/AHA guideline is to assist clinicians in clinical decision making by describing a range of generally acceptable approaches for the diagnosis, management, and prevention of cardiac diseases. Optimizing the anesthetic management of the cardiac patient undergoing noncardiac surgery is becoming increasingly important: as the percentage of Americans older than 65 years continues to grow, so does the prevalence of cardiac disease in this population. Simply accepting a preoperative cardiology clearance for the cardiac patient undergoing noncardiac surgery provides little information that can be used for risk assessment and management of anesthesia. While national practice patterns vary significantly, there is an important need to standardize cost-effective preoperative cardiac evaluation. By using evidence-based studies, the ACC/AHA guideline delineates methods to objectively categorize cardiovascular risk and use data from the cardiology consultation to refine anesthetic management. Use of the guideline can lead to more efficient evaluation of the noncardiac patient with cardiac disease, which can decrease morbidity, mortality, and cost.