Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the potential influence of etomidate on postoperative outcomes

This study showed no difference in what they defined as ‘hard outcomes’ such as myocardial infarction, stroke and death. They did however show an increased incidence of composite end points (10%; p=0.03) such as postoperative congestive heart failure (1%) and readmission rates (7%). One interesting point that we would like to raise is the significantly higher use of etomidate in the HCM cohort (p=0.002). Understandably, etomidate was chosen in many cases for its rapid onset and stable haemodynamic properties. This was likely reflected in the significantly lower incidence of intraoperative tachycardia and hypotension in patients with HCM. However, the use of etomidate is not without controversy, with several studies linking its use as a single-dose induction agent to...

Source: Heart - October 25, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: White, L. D., Vlok, R., Chong, C., Melhuish, T. M. Tags: PostScript Source Type: research