Cardiothoracic Surgery Principles and Practice

Built for ABTS candidates and cardiothoracic trainees, this handbook connects cardiac, thoracic, congenital, robotic, transplant, and ICU practice through the decisions that determine safe surgery. It moves from anatomy, imaging, risk stratification, anesthesia, cardiopulmonary bypass, and myocardial protection into coronary reconstruction, valve repair, aortic surgery, congenital repair, lung and airway surgery, esophageal reconstruction, robotic platforms, hybrid procedures, ICU management, and long-term reintervention. The unifying framework — the Exposure–Repair–Rescue System — teaches readers to define what must be exposed, what proves the repair is complete, and what rescue pathway begins when physiology fails.

• Map cardiothoracic anatomy to operative exposure — sternotomy, thoracotomy, hilum, mediastinum, airway, esophagus, great vessels, valves, coronaries, and robotic port geometry tied to procedural risk.

• Plan coronary reconstruction and CABG strategy — conduit choice, target selection, anastomotic sequence, graft-flow logic, and ischemia rescue after revascularization.

• Execute valve and aortic decision pathways — mitral, aortic, tricuspid, multivalve, root, arch, dissection, and endovascular repairs linked to echo findings and failure modes.

• Navigate congenital repair arcs — septal defects, AV canal, tetralogy, transposition, single-ventricle pathways, neonatal reconstruction, and adult congenital reintervention.

• Manage thoracic and foregut operations — lung resection, airway reconstruction, esophagectomy, mediastinal surgery, pleural disease, diaphragm repair, and chest wall reconstruction.

• Use robotic, minimally invasive, hybrid, and percutaneous platforms safely — setup, cannulation, imaging, conversion thresholds, and bailout planning.

• Rescue ICU complications early — bleeding, coagulopathy, tamponade, RV failure, respiratory collapse, air leak, leak sepsis, ECMO escalation, and reoperation triggers.

Choose this reference to build the operative judgment that links exposure, repair, and rescue for the cardiothoracic patients whose outcomes depend on all three.