First I am going to say I am not a expert, but I will say I have watched EKG for decades during anesthetics. I would not do a anesthetic without one running and it was illegal to not have one running. Some had EKGs before the operation. Some looked abnormal, some looked normal and we where glad to have them. A expert looked at them and made comments. The comments where made on the machines interpretation of what was going on. Yes a machine can read a EKG, but has to have a human interpretation also. This or that interpretation of what was of significance by the Doctor reading it. All tended to be non committal or suggesting further follow up with symptoms. Some suggest there was a risk. It did not say anything about what I was to do differently, except to perhaps maintain a close watch of BP ( I did that any how) and to provide sufficient oxygen! Well the machine delivered oxygen no matter what and we knew what the oxygen content of the blood was by watching oximetry. That is nice. If felt good!
I hate to say this but there was a certain percentage of people who would all of a sudden just go into a strange rhythm that was alarming or their hearts would start to slow down...70 pulse, sixty, fifty, forty, thirty....yes even stop. All in less than a minute. Some of these where extremely healthy people with no history of anything. Young. I recall one who was a runner and all of sudden it was time to go into overdrive with the resuscitation. A full court press. Yes it turned out fine but we did work up a bit of a sweat in the process. I am not saying it was fun at all.
A routine anesthetic is routine. Everyone says it is very safe. It is and it is especially if you watch closely for problems. That is what I got paid for. The problems such as above where rare. Very rare, but after forty years of giving anesthesia, I knew it could change quickly even on a "routine" anesthetic.
Reminds me of a story. When in anesthesia training my peers and I where shown a EKG. We looked at it. Professor said...." not exactly normal but nothing to get alarmed about"! He said, " this EKG is of a dead guy. He had been pronounced dead ten minutes before this record was made". How can that be? Well he had electrical activity in his heart, it just was not making the heart contract. The heart was not beating!
So I have this article I am going to show you a link to. It is on sudden death in the young.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sudden-death?utm_source=Society+for+Science+Newsletters&utm_campaign=f6bbb4aa10-Editors_picks_week_of_March_17_20143_21_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a4c415a67f-f6bbb4aa10-90420405
Why am I writing this. What is the one element that we all need, is one of the major components of the body and just about everyone is deficient in? I said element. Magnesium. Just about everyone is deficient. What does it do. Well it does a lot of things, but very importantly it calms the heart. It makes a normal pulse more likely to be normal and it tends to normalize BP. ( As a aside...are you having trouble controlling your BP. Think Magnesium and not magnesium oxide. I have covered all this before here). Muscle cramps. Think magnesium. Who can not tolerate it. People with poor kidney function and those who have atrial fib should not take it without a Doc's supervision.
Why don't we test for magnesium. We do. The test is almost worthless. A low level means it is low. A normal level means it maybe low, normal or even high. It is a bad test. You can check this out on line. Anyone who takes vitamin D decreases their blood level of magnesium. Anyone on a normal American diet does not get enough magnesium. So......bottom line... gets some. Take it. It is good for what ails you...
BB