General Thoracic Surgery
The focus of this chapter is on concepts in the perioperative period germane to general thoracic surgery. Areas that will be covered include preoperative pulmonary reserve assessment, prevention of postoperative…
ANESTHESIA
Cardiac Surgery
Each year, more than 500,000 cardiac surgery procedures are performed in the United States, and, until recently, this number continued to grow annually. Cardiac surgical patients are routinely admitted to…
Preservation of Fetal Viability During Noncardiac Surgery
Caring for the pregnant patient who requires a surgical procedure is challenging. The effects of anesthetics on the developing fetus continues to evolve and issues concerning the pregnant patient have…
Prevention of Perioperative Surgical Site Infection
Introduction Surgical site infections (SSIs) are now the most common cause of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), accounting for approximately 20% of all HAIs in hospitalized patients. Approximately 160,000–300,000 SSIs occur each…
Perioperative Management of Acute Central Nervous System Injury
Introduction Neural function is essential to human existence. Thus, loss of any neural element in the course of a critical illness represents a major loss to a given individual. Neurons…
Preservation of Spinal Cord Function
Introduction Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating medical condition because of the impact of permanent disability produced by paraplegia or quadriplegia. Treatment of the initial injury and reintegration…
Protecting the Central Nervous System During Cardiac Surgery
Introduction Multiple advances in perioperative techniques, especially the maturation of cardiopulmonary bypass, have allowed the practice of cardiac surgery to develop rapidly. Despite these advances that have enabled contemporary cardiac…
Perioperative Management of Bleeding and Transfusion
Introduction Transfusion therapy is necessary and can be lifesaving in surgical patients. However, despite being the standard of care for blood loss and anemia, it has never undergone the rigorous,…
Prevention and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Morbidity
Undergoing general anesthesia for an elective operation has become exceedingly safe and is now rarely associated with mortality. With the improvements in perioperative screening, risk reduction, and intraoperative management, we…
Prevention and Management of Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism
Venous thromboembolism (VTE), including deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is a common, preventable perioperative complication occurring in up to 5% of noncardiac surgical patients. Even when treated,…
