Preoperative assessment of vascular patients

Yates, David; Caldicott, Lawrence

doi:10.1016/j.mpaic.2007.03.005

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Volume 8, Issue 6 , Pages 239-243, June 2007

Preoperative assessment of vascular patients

David Yates, FRCA, is Specialist Registrar in Anaesthesia at York. He qualified at the University of Leeds, and trained as an SHO in the Yorkshire region. His research interests include perioperative optimization and the identification of high-risk surgical patients

Lawrence Caldicott, FRCA, is Consultant Anaesthetist at St James's Hospital, Leeds. He qualified at St George's Hospital, London, and trained in anaesthesia in Leeds and Sheffield. His interests include anaesthesia for vascular surgery and local anaesthetic techniques

Abstract

Vascular surgical patients have a high incidence of morbidity and mortality following surgery. Preoperative assessment allows the anaesthetist to judge the risk of anaesthesia and surgery, to identify any medical factors that can be improved and to plan perioperative care. The risks and benefits should be fully discussed with the patient. Many proven risk factors can be readily identified by history and examination and simple tests. Only rarely will more invasive testing be indicated. Risk assessment, stratification and perioperative optimization are discussed. Specific conditions that occur frequently and their implications for the vascular anaesthetist are also described.

Keywords: preoperative assessment, vascular surgery