Bookedited by Joseph Arrowsmith, Andrew Roscoe, Jonathan Mackay.
Summary: "In the words of one of our contributors (Sam Nashef*), "There is no such thing as a good cardiac anaesthetist". Recently published** evidence however, suggests that the anaesthetist's contribution to cardiac surgical mortality is very small, suggesting that - at least in the UK - there is no such thing as a bad cardiac anaesthetist either!!! As with many textbooks, it was inevitable that the second edition was fatter and heavier than the first as we sought to cover more topics in greater detail. In considering a third edition, the consistent feedback (sometimes blunt) was to delete less frequently read chapters and return to the original remit - a small, concise, portable reference focusing on key points for trainees in the first six months of subspecialty training. We warmly welcome Andy Roscoe, a recognized international authority on transoesophageal echocardiography, as an editor. Under Andy's stewardship, we are confident that future editions of this book will be in safe hands. In the third edition, we cover many of changes that have occurred since publication of the second edition - a huge expansion in ECMO (a four-letter word in many centres), increased numbers of cardiology procedures undertaken in cardiac catheter laboratory and hybrid operating theatre, and the tentative return of aprotinin into clinical practice. In larger cardiac surgical centres there has been a gradual separation of cardiothoracic anaesthesia from critical care, with the latter becoming a specialty 26 in its own right. Many intensive topics are well covered in a sister publication, Core Topics in Cardiothoracic Critical Care, 2nd Edition and these are referenced in the text. We are extremely grateful to our contributors for their forbearance and to Cambridge University Press for their seemingly endless patience"-- Provided by publisher.