title: Frailty assessment in vascular surgery and its utility in preoperative decision making.
abstract: The average patient requiring vascular surgery has become older, as life expectancy within the US population has increased. Many older patients have some degree of frailty and reside near the limit of their physiological reserve with restricted ability to respond to stressors such as surgery. Frailty assessment is an important part of the preoperative decision-making process, in order to determine whether patients are fit enough to survive the vascular surgery procedure and live long enough to benefit from the intervention. In this review, we will discuss different measures of frailty assessment and how they can be used by vascular surgery providers to improve preoperative decision making and the quality of patient care.
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, 30 N. 1900 E., Suite #3C344, Salt Lake City, UT 84132. Electronic address: Larry.Kraiss@hsc.utah.edu.
authors.forename: Larry W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Kraiss
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, 30 N. 1900 E., Suite #3C344, Salt Lake City, UT 84132.
authors.forename: Julie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Beckstrom
authors.affiliation: Division of Vascular Surgery, University of Utah School of Medicine, 30 N. 1900 E., Suite #3C344, Salt Lake City, UT 84132.
authors.forename: Benjamin S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Brooke
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D016330:Frail Elderly; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D010641:Phenotype; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality / Q000592:standards