[The preoperative electrocardiogram: meaningless routine or essential tool?].

The clinical assessment prior to any surgical intervention is generally carried out by an anaesthesiologist, however, in many cases the cardiologist is also required given that the cardiovascular risk has the greatest clinical and prognosis significance in the majority of interventions. The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a firmly established element of the preoperative cardiological assessment. Official guidelines on clinical practice1 take it for granted that the ECG forms part of the basic preoperative assessment, in addition to risk stratification using the normal scales.2 They even state that an abnormal ECG determines the need for a cardiological consultation. It has been shown that the simple classification of preoperative ECGs into normal and abnormal improves the prognosis utility of the clinical assessment, based on the patient and intervention risk.3 However, 51% of preoperative ECGs are abnormal and this rarely has an impact on the therapeutic attitude or is correlated to results among the low risk population.4 In contrast however, information from Letters to the Editor