Anesthesiology clinics of North America
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Anesthesiol Clin North America · Sep 2005
ReviewPostoperative considerations for patients with obesity and sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea and obesity are prevalent and often coexisting conditions that challenge medical, anesthetic, and surgical treatment. It is essential to possess knowledge of the magnitude of the sleep disorder as well as concomitant medical comorbidities. Management of obese patients requires a thorough preoperative evaluation and appraisal of anesthetic and operative risks. Postoperatively, these patients can present an additional challenge.
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Anesthesiol Clin North America · Sep 2005
ReviewDemographics and diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea.
This article reviews the terminology of obstructive sleep apnea and the associated diagnostic tests and provides an overview of the risk factors for this chronic condition. Sleep apnea affects 2% to 4% of middle-aged working adults in the general population, however, a considerable number of affected individuals remain undiagnosed. Patients with the disease may be at a higher risk for adverse perioperative outcomes. Knowledge of factors associated with an increased risk of obstructive sleep apnea is vital to the perioperative assessment and anesthetic plan.
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This review focuses on perioperative blood conservation techniques and the role of transfusion triggers and algorithms, preoperative autologous donation, acute normovolemic hemodilution, intraoperative blood salvage, deliberate hypotension, and preoperative recombinant human erythropoietin in avoiding allogeneic blood transfusion in pediatric patients.
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This article describes the intraoperative washed cell salvage process and principles of cell salvage technology and addresses the parameters that can maximize the effectiveness of the process. Used appropriately, this technique can be used to recover and readminister several blood volumes of red cells.
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Anesthesiol Clin North America · Jun 2005
ReviewPreoperative evaluation and methods to reduce blood use in orthopedic surgery.
Major elective orthopedic surgery may be associated with significant blood loss and allogeneic transfusion risk. Identifying patients at risk for allogeneic transfusion is best accomplished with a thorough preoperative evaluation of the patient's hematopoietic system, which, unfortunately, is not always carried out. ⋯ This allows for expedited diagnosis and treatment of underlying comorbidities. An unexplained low level of hemoglobin or a hemoglobin level low enough to increase the patient's allogeneic risk should cause elective surgery to be deferred until an evaluation can be preformed and blood management strategies put in place.