Focused cardiac echocardiography in beach-chair position surgery: A case study

Abstract

The haemodynamic response to the beach-chair position may be affected by the presence of left ventricular hypertrophy where remodelling of cardiac chambers can potentially lead to left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. We present a case report of severe hypotension in the beach-chair position, where focused cardiac ultrasound identified left ventricular hypertrophy and geometric features that contributed to the hypotensive response. This case illustrates that focused cardiac ultrasound has the potential to alert the clinician preoperatively to left ventricular outflow tract obstruction susceptibility during surgery in the beach-chair position, and intraoperatively to direct management should sudden decreases in blood pressure occur.