Is pulmonary aspiration still an important problem in anesthesia?
Recent studies suggest that perioperative pulmonary aspiration is an infrequent event (approximately 1 : 2000-3000 general anesthetics), but its impact on individual patients can be devastating. Patients who appear to have the greatest risk of developing severe pulmonary morbidity or dying after aspiration are those who are sick (American Society of Anesthesiologists physical classification 3 or greater) and elderly. As a general rule, children have less morbidity from pulmonary aspiration.
Warner
M A
MA
Department of Anesthesiology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. warner.mark@mayo.edu