Cardiac dysrhythmias and anesthesia

Background and objectives: Cardiac dysrhythmias are relatively common in the perioperative period and should be adequately diagnosed and treated by the anesthesiologist whenever indicated. The objective of this article was to review the most relevant aspects of cardiac dysrhythmias, as well as establishing the cause-effect relationship between drugs used in the perioperative period and dysrhythmias.

Contents: The mechanisms of dysrhythmias, drugs that can potentially cause dysrhythmias, besides diagnosis and treatment in the perioperative period are presented.

Conclusions: Perioperative dysrhythmias oftentimes do not require treatment and in others the treatment can generate iatrogenicity. Therefore, the knowledge of cardiac dysrhythmias and triggering factors allows a better approach of the perioperative period by the anesthesiologist avoiding wrong or unnecessary treatment.