PREOPERATIVE EVALUATION AND POSTOPERATIVE CARE OF THE ELDERLY PATIENTUNDERGOING MAJOR SURGERY

As the population ages and as surgical and anesthetic techniques advan ce, more and more elderly patients are referred for surgery. As a resu lt, the physician must be increasingly aware of the aged response to s urgery and the management of the geriatric surgical patient in the per ioperative period. Elderly patients are prone to cardiac, respiratory, and infectious complications, and thus, they need to be screened for the presence of pre-existing disease. In addition, the geriatric patie nt needs to be carefully monitored in the proper postoperative environ ment to guard against untoward sequelae.