Perioperative myocardial injury and infarction following non-cardiac surgery: A review of the eclipsed epidemic

The perioperative period induces unpredictable and significant alterations in coronary plaque characteristics which may culminate as adverse cardiovascular events in background of a compromised myocardial oxygen supply and demand balance. This “ischemic-imbalance” provides a substrate for perioperative cardiac adversities which incur a considerable morbidity and mortality. The propensity of myocardial injury is dictated by the conglomeration of various factors like pre-existing medical condition, high-risk surgical interventions, intraoperative hemodynamic management, and the postoperative care. Perioperative myocardial infarction (PMI) differs from myocardial infarction (MI) in a non-operative setting. PMI can often be notoriously “silent” demonstrating a conspicuous absence of the classic clinical symptoms. Moreover, myocardial injury following non-cardiac surgery (MINS) characterized by an elevation of the cardiac insult biomarkers has demonstrated an independent prognostic significance in the perioperative scenario despite the lack of a formal categorization as PMI. This has evoked interest in the meticulous characterization of MINS as a discrete clinical entity. Multifactorial etiology, varying symptomatology, close differential diagnosis, and a debatable management regime makes perioperative myocardial injury-infarction, a subject of detailed discussion.