Perioperative Medicine – Current Controversies

This book addresses those aspects of anaesthetic practice in perioperative medicine which have a significant impact on both the immediate and the long-term outcome for the surgical patient. Perioperative Medicine is the natural evolution of anaesthesia from a main focus on the patient in the operating room to a responsibility for the care of the patient from the time that the decision to operate is made, through to discharge from hospital. The contributors, well-respected authors in their field, discuss the role of the perioperative medicine specialist in areas ranging from pre-operative assessment and physiological optimization via pre-habilitation, to intra-operative anaesthetic management, and post-operative care. Controversial topics discussed include fluid therapy, anaesthesia and cancer outcomes, pharmacological management of cardiac risk, and the evolution of acute to chronic pain. Developments in regional