Anaesthetic assessment of patients with gastrointestinal problems

Abstract 

Anaesthetists are frequently presented with patients who have gastrointestinal problems that need either emergency or elective surgery. The anaesthetist is concerned with the primary surgical diagnosis and the secondary dysfunction of other organ systems. In the emergency situation, the airway, breathing and circulation should first be assessed and problems dealt with as they are identified, followed by as full a general assessment as is possible in the time available. In the elective situation, assessment follows the more traditional approach of history, examination and investigation.

Keywords: assessment, bleeding, gastrointestinal problems, haemorrhage, infarction, inflammation, obstruction, perforation, sepsis, viscus