Anesthetic Management of Specific Cardiovascular Diseases

Small animal patients that need general anesthesia may have preexisting cardiovascular diseases. To ensure oxygen delivery to the tissue, the cardiac output and oxygen content of the blood should be optimized. Cardiac output is the product of stroke volume and heart rate. Patients with cardiovascular diseases may have reduced cardiac output due to decreased stroke volume. The determinants of stroke volume are preload, afterload, and myocardial contractility. The hemodynamic goals for patients with cardiovascular diseases involve targeting these factors with the ultimate objective of providing adequate cardiac output to the anesthetized patients. The main objective of this presentation is to present the anesthetic management of specific cardiovascular diseases. The cardiovascular conditions that will be discussed in this presentation are the more commonly encountered problems in practice.