Cardiothoracic anesthesiology is a sub speciality of the medical practice of anesthesiology, devoted to the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative care of adult and Pediatric patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery and related invasive procedures.

It deals with the anesthesia aspects of care related to surgical cases such as open heart surgery, lung surgery, and other operations of the human chest. These aspects include perioperative care with expert manipulation of patient cardiopulmonary physiology through precise and advanced application of pharmacology, resuscitative techniques, critical care medicine, and invasive procedures. This also includes management of the cardiopulmonary bypass (heart-lung) machine, which most cardiac procedures require intraoperative while the heart undergoes surgical correction.

Cardiac Surgical Training

Fellows are trained to provide perioperative anesthetic management for patients with severe cardiopulmonary pathology. Some of the cardiac surgeries they train for include the following: coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) both on cardiopulmonary bypass as well as on a beating heart, heart valve surgery, aortic reconstruction requiring deep hypothermic arrest, mechanical ventricular assist device (VAD) placement, thoracic aortic aneurysm repair, aortic dissection repair, heart transplants, lung transplants, heart/lung transplants, and adult congenital heart surgery.

Adequate exposure and experience provided in the management of adult patients for cardiac pacemaker and automatic implantable cardiac defibrillator placement, surgical treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, and the complete gamut of invasive cardiologic (catheter-based) and electrophysiological procedures is expected as well.

Thoracic Surgical Training

In addition to the focused cardiac training, additional clinical experience within the full one-year fellowship includes anesthetic management of adult patients undergoing thoracic and vascular surgery. Fellows are trained to manage all type of thoracic surgeries which include video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), open thoracotomy, and advanced airway procedures involving the trachea. Fellows achieve expertise in different techniques of lung isolation and ventilation including double-lumen endotracheal tubes, bronchial blockers, univent tubes under guidance of fibre optic bronchoscopy, and advanced jet ventilation.

Advanced Monitoring and Invasive Techniques

The complex nature of cardiothoracic surgery necessitates extra training to acquire the skills needed to be a cardiothoracic anesthesiology consultant. Fellows are trained to achieve expertise in the advanced monitoring techniques including invasive blood pressure, arterial blood gas analysis, cardiac output monitoring, jugular venous oxygen saturation, cerebral oximetry, Bispectral Index (BIS),[9] Trans cranial Doppler (TCD),[10] and Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).

Our esteemed journal PULACR is looking forward for the upcoming issue (Volume3: Issue 1) for the upcoming issue as all the authors are invited to submit their recent scientific work through manuscripts in the mode of Research/Case Reports/Case Studies/Reviews/Short Review/ Short Communications/Commentaries/Short Commentaries/Letters to Editor/ Image articles etc.,

Manuscripts can be uploaded online at Editorial Tracking System https://www.pulsus.com/submissions/anesthesiology-case-reports.html  or as email attachment to anesthesia@oajournal.org

Thanks and Regards,
Editorial Manager,
Anesthesiology Case Reports: Open-Access
Contact: +44-20-3608-4181