Before Your Operation
Understanding what will happen before your heart or thoracic surgery
Most patients don't choose their anaesthetist — but you can understand exactly what to expect. Clarity reduces fear, and fear reduction improves trust, which helps the entire surgical experience.
This page outlines what happens in the days and hours before your operation and how we prepare you for safe, smooth anaesthesia.
Your pre-operative assessment
Before your surgery, we gather information to design the safest anaesthetic plan for you. This may include:
- • Your medical history and medications
- • Blood tests and ECG
- • Heart imaging (echo, CT, MRI)
- • Lung function
- • Airway assessment
- • Previous anaesthetic experiences
This assessment helps us understand how your heart, lungs and circulation will respond during your operation, especially for minimally invasive cardiac surgery where physiological control is more nuanced.
Tailoring your anaesthetic plan
No two patients and no two heart procedures are identical.
Your anaesthetic plan will consider:
- • Your heart function and rhythm
- • Your lung health
- • Your mobility and frailty
- • Whether surgery is minimally invasive
- • How organs can best be protected
- • Your personal concerns
For minimally invasive surgery, we use approaches that support lung isolation, maintain stability during small-access valve repair, and optimise recovery profile.
What happens on the day of surgery
Arrival and preparation
You will meet the theatre team and have monitoring applied. This may include ECG, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, IV lines and sometimes specialised monitors depending on your procedure.
Induction of anaesthesia
Anaesthesia is started gently and safely, with medications given through a cannula. You will drift off calmly — there is no sudden loss of control.
During the operation
Throughout the procedure I monitor:
- • Depth of anaesthesia
- • Heart rhythm and blood pressure
- • Oxygen delivery
- • Blood flow to organs
- • Ventilation and lung function
- • Temperature and fluid balance
This monitoring allows real-time adjustments to keep your body protected.
Protecting comfort and safety
Cardiac procedures — especially minimally invasive ones — benefit from modern approaches such as:
- • Multimodal pain relief
- • Targeted nerve blocks where appropriate
- • Lung-protective ventilation
- • Techniques to reduce nausea
- • Strategies to minimise postoperative confusion
These improvements help you recover faster and with fewer side effects.
What you can do to prepare
Patients play an important role too.
Before your procedure you will be advised on:
- • When to stop eating and drinking
- • Which medications to continue or pause
- • How to manage blood thinners
- • Smoking cessation if relevant
- • Bringing a list of medications and allergies
If you have concerns, write them down — it's completely appropriate to bring questions.
The handover to ICU
After surgery, my responsibility continues until you are safely handed over to the intensive care unit. At that stage:
- • You may remain gently sedated
- • Ventilation is controlled
- • Pain management begins immediately
- • Your vital signs are stabilised before awakening
Your wake-up is planned — not rushed — so you remain comfortable and safe.
Summary
Preparing well for surgery is part of delivering excellent anaesthesia.
Clear information reduces fear, and fear reduction supports better recovery.
If you have specific concerns or questions, the FAQ section can help — or speak directly with your surgical and anaesthesia team.