Diagnosis and management of cardiac arrhythmias in the postoperative period.

Various rhythm disturbances occur in the postoperative patient. Proper management requires an awareness of clinical circumstances in which they are most likely to happen. Often, the appearance of new arrhythmias in the postoperative period is a manifestation of underlying remediable medical problems. Direct antiarrhythmic therapy is unnecessary in many patients when these precipitating conditions are properly treated.