Anesthesia of a high-altitude area inhabitant who underwent aortic dissection emergency surgery in a low-altitude area

Abstract

Heart surgery in patients from high-altitude areas is more challenging than usual. Few studies have been published on this issue, and none of them have discussed the effect of an altitude change (from high to low altitude) on a patient’s physiology or its effects on a patient’s perioperative management. Here, we present the case of a 46-year-old man who was a long-time resident of Tibetan area in Sichuan (altitude >3000 m) who underwent Stanford type A aortic dissection emergency surgery on the plain. Anesthetic management occurred through monitoring of the bispectral index (BIS) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and we used a relatively loose fluid hydration strategy. The surgery was performed using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), deep hypothermia (DH), and selective antegrade cerebral perfusion. The most prominent anesthesia challenges for these patients are physiological changes due to habitation in an high-altitude environment (chronic hypoxemia), which can cause hyperhemoglobinemia, polycythemia, hypercoagulable blood, and even pulmonary hypertension, cor pulmonale, or congestive heart failure. Optimized perioperative management and close cooperation among the entire cardiac medical team were the key factors in the successful management of this rare case.