Anaesthesia
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Patients are frequently malnourished or are at risk of malnutrition before surgery. Peri-operative nutritional support can improve their outcomes. This review focuses on new developments in peri-operative nutrition, including: patient preparation and pre-operative fasting; the role of nutritional supplementation; the optimal route and timing of nutrient delivery; and the nutritional management of specific groups including critically ill, obese and elderly patients.
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While specialist pre-operative assessment is not new, its focus has evolved in response to more operations and changes in the surgical population. Patients are older and have more long-term medical comorbidities. ⋯ Pre-operative clinics have a central role in shared decision-making, coordinating and planning care before, during and after surgery, including rehabilitation and discharge planning. Multiple specialties need to work together to deliver quality patient-centred care.
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'Enhanced recovery after surgery' protocols implement a series of peri-operative interventions intended to improve recovery after major operations, one aspect of which is fluid management. The pre-operative goal is to prepare a hydrated, euvolaemic patient by avoiding routine mechanical bowel preparation and by encouraging patients to drink clear liquids up to two hours before induction of anaesthesia. ⋯ The postoperative goal is eating and drinking without intravenous fluid infusions. Postoperative oliguria should be expected and accepted, as urine output does not indicate overall fluid status.
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Cognition may decline after surgery. Postoperative delirium, especially when hyperactive, may be easily recognised, whereas cognitive dysfunction is subtle and can only be detected using neuropsychological tests. ⋯ Postoperative cognitive disorders are associated with increased mortality and permanent disability. Peri-operative interventions can reduce the rate of delirium in the elderly, but in spite of promising findings in animal experiments, no intervention reduces postoperative cognitive dysfunction in humans.
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Our bi-specialty clinic was established to systematically investigate patients with suspected peri-operative hypersensitivity reactions. Four hundred and ten patients were studied; 316 following an intra-operative reaction ('postoperative' group) and 94 with a previous history of reaction, referred before undergoing anaesthesia ('pre-operative' group). In the postoperative group, 173 (54.7%) were diagnosed with IgE-mediated reactions: 65 (37.6%) to neuromuscular blocking drugs; 54 (31.2%) antibiotics; 15 (8.7%) chlorhexidine and 12 (6.9%) patent blue dye. ⋯ Referrers' suspected causal agent was confirmed in only 37.2% of patients. Of 94 patients reviewed 'pre-operatively', 29 (30.8%) were diagnosed with IgE-mediated hypersensitivity reactions, reinforcing the importance of investigating this group of patients. Knowledge of the range of causative agents identified in our study should guide the investigation of suspected peri-operative hypersensitivity reactions.