Kathirvel Subramaniam, MD, MPH, FASE, Professor, Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, and Director of Perioperative Echocardiography in our department, served as a guest editor for the June 2025 edition of Best Practice & Research: Clinical Anaesthesiology.
This special journal edition, titled “Preoperative Evaluation and Prehabilitation for Cardiac Surgical Patients,” explores the evolving paradigm of risk optimization and enhanced recovery in cardiac surgery. Dr. Subramaniam co-edited the issue alongside Dr. Ludmil V. Mitrev of Cooper University Health Care (Camden, NJ) and Dr. Mathew Patteril of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (United Kingdom).
The issue opens with an article co-authored by the three editors, titled “Reimagining Cardiac Surgery—The Emerging Role of Prehabilitation and Risk Optimization.” The article underscores a significant shift in perioperative cardiac care—integrating Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) principles, long established in colorectal and orthopedic procedures, into cardiac surgery. At the heart of this evolution is “prehabilitation,” a proactive, multidisciplinary approach to optimize patients’ physical, nutritional, and psychological readiness prior to surgery, ultimately aiming to improve outcomes and recovery.
Several faculty members and trainees in our cardiothoracic anesthesiology division contributed scholarly articles to the issue (department names bolded):
- Sennaraj Balasubramanian, John Driggers, Alice Whyte, Kathirvel Subramaniam – “Preoperative Investigations and Imaging for Cardiac Surgical Patients”
- Kathirvel Subramaniam, Sennaraj Balasubramanian, Elissa Castor, Pooja Tallapaneni, Gautham Raghuthaman, Ibrahim Sultan - “Role of Risk Prediction Scores in Preoperative Assessment of Cardiac Surgical Patients”
- Roshni Cheema, David Kratzenberg, Pranav Doshi, Kathirvel Subramaniam – “Obesity and The Surgical Heart: Challenges, Strategies, and Innovations”
Congratulations to Dr. Subramaniam and all contributors to this special issue, which reflects meaningful contributions to the growing body of knowledge in perioperative cardiac care and highlights the importance of continued innovation and collaboration in the field.