Pre-operative consultation for patients undergoing general or spinal anesthesia for surgery, has been proven to reduce the number of surgical complications that can occur. It has been estimated that over one million patients a year suffer cardiac complications during or immediately following surgical procedures. The most common cardiac complications include heart attack, angina, congestive heart failure, and life threatening arrhythmias.

Pre-operative consultation at Advanced Cardiac Specialists (ACS) includes a thorough assessment of all components of a patient’s cardiac risk index. Our physicians use the Goldman Multi-factorial Cardiac Risk Indices for scientifically proven and accurate pre-operative cardiac risk assessment. The Goldman criteria identify patients as Class I (low risk) to Class IV (high risk) based on the individual patient’s past medical and surgical history, current physical exam, cardiac testing, and lab analysis.

The comprehensive pre-operative cardiac risk testing at ACS includes one or all of the following, as individually indicated: electrocardiogram (EKG), echocardiogram, stress echocardiogram, carotid ultrasound and renal artery evaluation. These tests can be performed with state-of-the-art equipment at each of our outpatient offices. For patients testing positive for inducible myocardial ischemia during evaluation or stress echocardiograph testing, cardiac catheterization is an option available for definitive diagnosis and can be performed at the ACS Catheterization Laboratory located at Phoenix Memorial Hospital.

At the completion of the pre-operative consultation, a patient and his/her surgeon receive a complete cardiac risk assessment analysis that includes testing summaries, lab analysis results and a letter identifying the patient’s cardiac risk determination, along with recommendations for management of the patient during surgery/anesthesia, if needed.

Advanced Cardiac Specialists cares about your good health. Pre-operative consultation is only one of the ways in which we provide useful information in partnership with the patient/physician team.

If you would like additional information on our pre-operative consultations, please contact us at: (480) 926-6990, or 1 (800) 73 PULSE, or e-mail us at bobbie.boyd@acs-im.com