Use of esmolol in the postbypass management of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

In patients suffering from hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), any catecholamine release during anaesthesia may aggravate the severity of the outflow tract obstruction and compromise cardiac output. In this event the situation may be improved by beta block. Esmolol, an ultra-short-acting beta-blocker (half-life 9 min) appears to be a suitable agent for this purpose. We describe its use in the perioperative management of a patient who underwent surgical correction of HOCM.