Cardiac clearance for noncardiac surgery

The purpose of perioperative cardiac risk stratification is to properly evaluate the patient and determine their appropriate cardiac risk level before proceeding with surgery. It aids in guiding the patient towards the appropriate testing and interventions to best optimize the patient’s status before proceeding to surgery. Perioperative risk stratification identifies the subset of surgical patients who will benefit from preoperative therapy to better manage and treat cardiac conditions or risk factors in order to decrease perioperative cardiac morbidity and mortality. A combination of surgical factors and patient factors must be considered.