title: Preoperative evaluation and postoperative care of the elderly patient undergoing major surgery.
abstract: As the population ages and as surgical and anesthetic techniques advance, more and more elderly patients are referred for surgery. As a result, the physician must be increasingly aware of the aged response to surgery and the management of the geriatric surgical patient in the perioperative 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 patient needs to be carefully monitored in the proper postoperative environment to guard against untoward sequelae.
authors.affiliation: Surgical Intensive Care Units of Winthrop-University Hospital, Mineola, New York.
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Chalfin
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Nasraway
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003422:Critical Care; D016638:Critical Illness; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D012151:Resuscitation; D012307:Risk Factors; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data