11 Arterial and Venous Catheterisation and Invasive Monitoring Stuart A Gillon , Nicholas A Barrett and Christopher IS Meadows Principles of Vascular Access Vascular catheters are ubiquitous to cardiothoracic critical…
10 Cardiac Pacing and Defibrillation Sérgio Barra and Patrick Heck Introduction Patients admitted to a cardiothoracic critical care unit (CCU) are at increased risk for cardiac arrhythmias and severe conduction…
7 Radiology for Cardiothoracic Intensivists Kristian H Mortensen , Peter A Barry and Deepa Gopalan Introduction Diagnostic imaging of patients in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit (ICU) can pose unique…
9 Chest Drainage Alia Noorani and Yasir Abu-Omar Introduction The pleural space is a thin, fluid filled space between the visceral and parietal pleura. In a healthy 70 kg individual,…
8 Airway Management in Cardiothoracic Intensive Care: Intubation and Tracheostomy Martin John and Christiana Burt The ability to safely secure and manage a definitive airway on the cardiothoracic intensive care…
6 Microbiology Testing A Ruth M Kappeler and Margaret I Gillham Introduction Infections in cardiothoracic intensive care units are common, either as the primary presenting illness as in the case…
5 Bronchoscopy in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit Sumit Chatterji and Pasupathy Sivasothy Introduction In 1897 Gustav Killian, a German laryngologist, performed the first airway examination in a human, with…
3 Echocardiography in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit Ghislaine Douflé and Andrew Roscoe Introduction Since its introduction into the intensive care environment in the early 1980s, echocardiography has been recognised…
4 Coronary Angiography Unni Krishnan and Stephen P Hoole Definition Coronary angiography uses radio-opaque contrast agent to delineate the anatomy of the coronary circulation. This may be performed either invasively…
2 Electrocardiography David Begley Introduction Electrocardiography (ECG) has been the main heart investigation method for most of the twentieth century and still plays a pivotal role in diagnostics. ECGs can…
