Patients who present for eye surgery are often at the extremes of age. Neonatal and geriatric anaesthesia both present special problems (see Chapters 33 and 31 , respectively). Some eye surgery may last many hours, and repeated anaesthetics at short…
Ear, nose and throat (ENT), maxillofacial and dental surgical procedures account for a significant proportion of work in most anaesthetic departments. Recent cost–benefit and evidence-based analyses have reduced the number of common procedures performed, such as tonsillectomy, insertion of grommets…
One in five operations in the UK is for orthopaedic, spinal or trauma surgery. This chapter provides a framework for the conduct of anaesthesia for orthopaedic surgery. The patient population A large proportion of patients presenting for orthopaedic surgery are…
One-third of all anaesthetics delivered are for general, gynaecological or genitourinary surgery. In all three disciplines there are increasing numbers of frail or older patients. There is also widespread adoption of endoscopic techniques as well as emphasis on anaesthetic techniques…
Introduction Day surgery is defined as surgery where patient discharge occurs on the same day as admission. Twenty-three-hour discharge and enhanced recovery have the same underlying principles as day surgery but are considered separately. Organisations such as the British Association…
The delivery of safe paediatric anaesthesia requires an appreciation of the anatomical and physiological characteristics of children at various stages of development, ranging from neonates younger than 44 weeks postconceptional age to infants 1–12 months old to children and young…
Obesity rates have increased from 15% in 1993 to 27% in 2015, and morbid obesity has tripled to affect 2% of men and 4% of women. Figures are projected to rise, with 50% of UK adults expected to be obese…
Increasing numbers of older people are undergoing emergency and elective surgery. This is due to changing demographics, advances in surgical and anaesthetic techniques and changing attitudes and expectations of the older population. Furthermore, degenerative, metabolic and neoplastic conditions, for which…
A high-risk surgical procedure can be considered as one in which there is an accepted postoperative mortality rate of more than 1%. Whether a procedure for a given patient is high risk depends on consideration of the technical hazards of…
In anaesthetic practice the patient is monitored closely and continuously from before induction and throughout the operative procedure. However, many problems associated with anaesthesia and surgery occur in the immediate postoperative period. The 2001 National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome…