Cardiac Slowing during Strabismus Surgery.

CARDIAC arrest is a frightening complication which may confront a surgeon at any operation. It is fortunate that it is relatively uncommon, but there is a danger of false security. Eye surgeons face this complication less frequently than general or thoracic surgeons, but few ofthose who have practised for many years have not met cases of actual or threatened cardiac arrest. Kirsch, Samet, Kugel, and Axelrod (1957) have estimated that cardiac arrest occurs in about 1 in 1,500 cases in general surgery and in about one in 3,500 cases in eye operations. Snyder, Snyder, and Chaffin (1953) considered that cardiac arrest occurs in about 1 in 2,500 cases. Milstein (1956) quoted estimates varying from 1 in 858 to 1 in 4,950 operations. Gartner and Billet (1958) estimated that about 45 deaths occurred during eye surgery in the United States of America every year. This problem is, therefore, a very real one.