You are part of a multi-disciplinary team that assesses high-risk cardiac surgical patients. You have
been asked to assess an 84-year-old female with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis for aortic valve
replacement. She has had coronary artery bypass surgery 10 years ago and femoro-popliteal artery
bypass surgery 4 years ago. She has treated hypertension, diabetes, emphysema and chronic kidney
disease.
What further information / investigations would you obtain and why?
This viva focussed on the preoperative assessment of high risk cardiac surgical patients.
Disclaimer: the viva stem above may be an original CICM stem, acquired from their publicly available past papers. Or, perhaps it is a slightly altered version of the original CICM stem. Or, it is a completely original viva stem, concocted by the monstrously amoral author of Deranged Physiology for nothing more than his own personal amusement. In either case, because the college do not make the main viva text or marking criteria available, almost everything here has been confabulated. It might sound like a plausible viva and it could be used for the purpose of practice, but all should be aware that it does not represent the "true" canonical CICM viva station.