Emergency Perioperative Management of Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Devices in Critical Trauma Patients

Currently, approximately 3,000,000 people in North America have a cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED). Therefore, anesthesiologists have a frequent need to manage the patients with CIEDs. It is sometimes not straightforward, especially for critical trauma cases in which detailed information for either the CIED or the patient is unknown. We have created an algorithm for the practical perioperative management for the patient with a CIED who needs an urgent lifesaving surgical procedure, and for whom none of the information such as name, age, previous history of medical conditions or the type, manufacture and battery life of the device is available.