This book outlines how to approach the anaesthetic for congenital heart disease patients for non-cardiac surgery, how to plan for it and to provide a blueprint on how to anaesthetise any congenital cardiac lesion. It describes the physiology of congenital cardiac conditions (unrepaired and repaired) which is important for anaesthetic planning and contains anatomical drawings of the lesions with explanation on how the physiology of these lesions influences anaesthetic technique and how anaesthesia influences the lesion. One of the challenges of congenital cardiac conditions is their variability, which needs to be taken into account in any teaching material. With most congenital patients surviving to adulthood, every anaesthetist will come across these patients, regardless of where they work or which specialty they anaesthetise for.
Paediatric Cardiac Anaesthesia: a Primer for the General Anaesthetist provides specific information regarding the management of patients with a cardiac lesion and the risks with a general anaesthetic when troubleshooting does not include crashing onto cardio-pulmonary bypass. It is aimed at non-cardiac anaesthetists including anaesthetic trainees who need to learn about congenital cardiac lesions and anaesthetising for it and non-cardiac consultants who anaesthetise cardiac patients (both paediatric and adult) for non-cardiac surgery. It can be used by trainees for learning about it or by consultants for refreshing their memory.
