Revised: March 21, 2013
Accepted: March 28, 2013
Published online: April 26, 2013
Long QT syndrome incidence is increasing in general population. A careful pre-, peri- and post-operative management is needed for patients with this syndrome because of the risk of Torsades de Pointes and malignant arrhythmias. The available data regarding prevention of lethal Torsades de Pointes during anesthesia in patients with long QT syndrome is scant and conflicting: only case reports and small case series with different outcomes have been published. Actually, there are no definitive guidelines on pre-, peri- and post-operative anesthetic management of congenital long QT syndrome. Our review focuses on anesthetic recommendations for patients diagnosed with congenital long QT syndrome furnishing some key points for preoperative optimization, intraoperative anesthetic agents and postoperative care plan, which could be the best for patients with c-long QT syndrome who undergo surgery.
Core tip: Long QT syndrome is a cardiac conduction disorder characterized by prolongation and increased dispersion of ventricular repolarization, manifested by lengthening of the QT interval on the surface electrocardiography. This review furnishes important key points for preoperative optimization, intraoperative anesthetic agents and postoperative care in order to fill the lack of definitive guidelines on anesthetic management of c-long QT syndrome.