title: Respiratory complications associated with anesthesia.
abstract: Adverse pulmonary outcomes that follow anesthesia and surgery are often attributed to anesthesia care. PPCs are a significant concern for anesthesia caregivers because they use drugs and techniques that temporarily decrease lung volume, impair airway reflexes, limit immune function, and depress secretion mobilization. A significant component of perioperative risk derives from the surgical site, postoperative pain, and effects of pharmacologic pain management. Rapidly evolving surgical and anesthesia techniques and the introduction of newer pharmaceutical agents make it difficult to identify best practice from retrospective experience reported in the perioperative literature. Prospective studies that deal with specific patient populations, incomparable patient groups or techniques, and unique practice bias have limited validity of claims regarding several promising approaches to perioperative risk reduction. In the absence of clear scientific principles, a perioperative pulmonary risk management strategy for the early part of this century is based on the consensus practice of informed clinicians (Box 4).
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, Bridgeport Hospital, Perry 3, Box 5000, 267 Grant Street, Bridgeport, CT 06610, USA. cbwmdct@aol.com
authors.forename: Charles B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Watson
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000765:Anesthesia, Conduction / Q000009:adverse effects; D000777:Anesthetics / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011015:Pneumonia, Aspiration / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000293:injuries*; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012308:Risk Management
chemical_list: D000777:Anesthetics