Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology

The Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Division provides care to more than 2,400 cardiac and thoracic surgical operations annually between Emory University Hospital and Emory University Hospital Midtown. The Cardiothoracic rotation is now a core three-month rotation that can be further explored as an elective during the final year of training. During the rotation, the resident will gain experience with anesthetic management of patients with coronary artery occlusive disease, valvular cardiac disease, or congenital cardiac disease. The resident will also obtain experience in managing patients having intra-thoracic, non-cardiac procedures. Typical procedures seen include CABGs (about half are on-pump and the other half are off-pump), valvular repair/replacements, aortic reconstructions (i.e. Bentall procedure), aneurysm repairs, thoracotomies, and lobectomies/pneumonectomies.  Given Emory’s status as a tertiary referral center, there will also be exposure to heart and lung transplants as well as LVAD/BiVAD insertion/removal. The high volume of cardiothoracic cases between the two hospital sites at Emory is such that no resident has trouble reaching numbers for ACGME requirements.

In consultation with the attending faculty, residents design an all-encompassing perioperative management plan that provides experience with intravascular monitoring, fiberoptic and endobronchial intubation, one-lung ventilation, and direct involvement in the process of weaning off cardiopulmonary bypass.

Transesophageal Echocardiography

This rotation has been added on as a third month within the core Cardiothoracic rotation to gain experience in TEE. The resident will work with an attending faculty member each day in the OR performing TEEs on cardiothoracic surgical patients.  During this month, the resident will learn the basics of a TEE examination and flow dynamics in addition to identifying the diagnostic criteria for valvular heart disease.