Choosing general versus regional anesthesia for the elderly.
Although clinical perceptions and theoretic considerations suggest regional anesthesia should be safer than general anesthesia in elderly patients, current studies indicate no difference in outcomes. Regional anesthesia may still prove superior to general anesthesia if the right patient population or right endpoints are identified for comparison. A study of consequence of outcome, comparing the two approaches has created an expansion of the definition of anesthesia-related complications.
Department of Anesthesiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. rroy@wfubmc.edu
R C
RC
Roy
D000368:Aged / Q000502:physiology*; D000765:Anesthesia, Conduction / Q000009:adverse effects; D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000401:mortality