Breaking news: simple drug can reduce operative mortality
Sunday 25th October 2009: Start all high risk patients on beta blocker in pre operative phase, said Dr KK Aggarwal President Heart Care Foundation of India.
Findings from San Francisco VA Hospital, presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists 2009 Annual Meeting have shown that there are survival benefits of peri-operative beta blockers for patients with cardiovascular risk.
Dr Aggarwal said that oral beta blockers should be given before the operation and continued for at least one week unless indicated for longer period. The purpose is to keep the pulse at 60 and upper blood pressure at 120 mm Hg.
If some one is unable to take beta blocker he or she should be given clonidine tablet.
Doctors should be aggressive in identifying candidates for beta blockers and starting them on therapy right away. Patients scheduled for surgery should start receiving a beta blocker as soon as we identify them as at-risk.
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