S8 Ep. 8: The long and winding road, part 1 (Anaesthesia for post-heart-transplant patients)

Today, in part 1 of our 2 part series on anaesthesia for previous heart transplant recipients, we discuss the care of these patients for non-cardiac surgery with special guest, Dr Ivan Rapchuk. We start our discussion with a review of how to assess whether these patients are suitable for elective surgery, and follow this with a deep-dive on the typical immunosuppressant medications that these patients may be taking,  as well as their mechanism of action and side effects.Resources for this episode:Oxford Handbook of Transplant Anaesthesia and Critical CareBJAED: Anaesthesia for a patient with a cardiac transplant (2002) by Morgan-Hughes, N. & Hood, G. Circulation (2004): Drug therapy in the heart transplant recipient by Lindenfeld, J. et al.Indian Journal of Anaesthesia: Post cardiac transplant recipient: Implications for anaesthesia by M. ChoudhuryRCEM India Learning - The ECG after cardiac transplantationFeel free to email us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. We love hearing from you! And don't forget to claim CPD for listening if you are a consultant or fellow. Log us as a learning session which you can find within the knowledge and skills division, and as evidence upload a screenshot of the podcast episode. Thanks for listening, and happy studying!