Cardiac surgical emergencies.

Cardiac surgical emergencies are broken down into three categories: cardiac trauma, aortic dissection, and surgery for acute myocardial infarctions. Emphasis is given to describing the presentation of patients with such problems, and to the salient aspects of the clinical strategies for managing each problem. An important goal of each section is focusing the critical care physician on the early recognition of cardiac surgical emergencies and providing him with some rationale for instituting an expeditious plan of therapy.