Predictive value of preoperative arterial blood gas evaluation for geriatric patients with hip fractures.
The high incidence of preoperative silent pulmonary embolisms (PEs) among elderly patients with hip fractures has led some authors to recommend making acquisition of arterial blood gas (ABG) levels a routine part of the preoperative workup. In the study reported here, we retrospectively reviewed 254 patients in our hip-fracture database and determined that ABG levels have poor positive predictive value for PEs and add little to the positive predictive value or negative predictive value of careful clinical examination. Therefore, we do not recommend making acquisition of ABG levels a routine part of the preoperative evaluation.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York University, New York, New York, USA.
Anand
A
Susarla
Erik N
EN
Kubiak
Kenneth A
KA
Egol
Adam
A
Karp
Joseplh D
JD
Zuckerman
Kenneth J
KJ
Koval
D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies