Review Article: Management of Perioperative Anesthesia in Right Heart Failure

Right ventricular dysfunction and failure receive much less attention than the left ventricular failure. Right ventricular dysfunction or failure is associated with increased mortality rates in cardiac surgery, surgical cases other than cardiac surgery and also in patients treated in the ICU. The purpose of this article review was to describe the anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology of right ventricular failure, its detection and diagnosis, and management considerations from anesthetic point of view, including preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative stages. Cardiac surgery may result in right ventricular failure. For example, 0.1% post cardiotomy patients experience severe right heart failure and require long-term inotropic support, and so do 2-3% of post-transplant patients, and 20-30% of patients installed with instrument in his left heart. Therefore, anesthesiologists play a major role in perioperative and postoperative intensive care and are obliged to comprehend the nature of right ventricular dysfunction and failure so as to carry out early detection, prevent and manage patients with right ventricular dysfunction.