Abstract
Principally we agree with the criteria for patients with a history of myocardial infarction (MI), proposed by S. Tarhan and his coworkers, that non-cardiac surgical indication should be delayed 6 months after the episode of MI. We think, however, that elective surgery in an earlier stage after episode can be permitted for gastrointestinal cancers and the like. In this paper we describe a retrospective study of 6 patients over 60 years old, for whom resection of the small intestine, gastrectomy, cholecystectomy, resection of abdominal aortic aneurysm, and limb amputation were obliged to perform in early stages (mean: 3.7 months). All patients could tolerate the surgery. Some postoperative circulatory complications such as atrial fibrilation and ventricular extrasystole occurred, but no episode of MI was caused. Accordingly it may be concluded that non-cardiac surgery can be performed in patients even at the time-point of 2 months after MI episode, if stable hemodynamic and cardiac function are kept, and if their rehabilitation is going well, with 50-60% of left ventricle ejection on the premise that strict perioperative management is achieved.
