What is it about?
Geriatric patients are exclusively vulnerable and particularly sensitive to the stresses of hospitalization, anesthesia and surgical procedure. However, age alone does not serve as deterrent for surgical procedures. The care of geriatric patients can be complex and will be a growing task. A balance between physiological and psychological alterations is required in these patients. No anesthetic agent or technique is clearly superior for all conditions or settings. Suitable preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative management is needed of geriatric patients. Additionally, anesthesiologists must have a knowledge of the physiological, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic differences before they utilize their anesthetic techniques.
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Why is it important?
To date, development in anesthesia and surgical techniques has substantially reduced morbidity and mortality in the geriatric patients. Several anesthetic techniques have been utilized for these patients. However, anesthesia-related mortality in geriatric patients is quiet high. All geriatric patients undergoing surgical procedures require a preprocedural evaluation and preparation, monitoring patients during intraprocedural and postprocedural periods as well as postprocedural management.
Perspectives
The geriatric population experiences significant alterations of numerous organ systems as a result of the aging process. They also have several co-morbidities including hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease and renal dysfunction. Geriatric patients are considerably vulnerable and especially sensitive to the stress of trauma, surgery and anesthesia. A high incidence of postoperative complications in this population is observed. Appropriate perioperative care was required for geriatric patients.
Professor Somchai Amornyotin
Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Anesthetic Consideration for Geriatric Patients, April 2021, IntechOpen,
DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.97003.
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