Major surgical interventions in tumour surgery are still associated with pe
rioperative cardiopulmonary, infectious, thromboembolic, cerebral, and gast
rointestinal complications. There are different prophylactic and therapeuti
c possibilities to anticipate or counteract these perioperative complicatio
ns. The most important, including beta blockers and alpha-2-agonists for pa
tients at coronary risk, preoperative optimisation of oxygen transport in h
igh risk surgical patients and the concept of multimodal perioperative ther
apy (analgesia. early mobilisation, early enteral nutrition, and others) co
mbined with high perioperative inspiratory oxygen concentration and mainten
ance of normothermia to reduce wound infection and cardiac complications ar
e described in this paper.